HARTFORD (AP) — A judge has ruled that the multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Connecticut's prison system and several employees brought by a former inmate who says she was sexually assaulted behind bars can go forward.

The Hartford Courant reports that U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea denied a state motion for dismissal on Friday, allowing 33-year-old Cara Tangreti to take the civil rights lawsuit to trial.

Tangreti says she was sexually assaulted multiple times at the state's women's prison in East Lyme while serving time on a larceny conviction in 2013 and 2014.

An internal Department of Correction inquiry "substantiated" wrongdoing on the part of prison personal. Multiple prisons employees were fired or arrested.

Eight supervisory personnel are listed as defendants, including the Department of Correction's former commissioner.

Tangreti says she was sexually assaulted multiple times at the state's women's prison in East Lyme while serving time on a larceny conviction in 2013 and 2014.