News / Human Rights

Prison guards raped, sexually abused female inmates at Rikers Island: Lawsuit

Wednesday, 20 May 2015 7:04 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2015 7:04 AM ]

A federal lawsuit accuses seven correction officers Rikers Island prison in New York City of raping or sexually abusing female inmates.

The Rikers Island prison in New York City is home to a “pervasive culture of rape" where correction officers retaliate against inmates who report sexual abuse, a federal lawsuit alleges.

Seven male guards at Rikers’ all-female Rose M. Singer Center jail complex repeatedly raped female inmates over a two-year period, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by the Legal Aid Society in the Federal District Court in Manhattan.

Two female inmates allege they were "repeatedly raped and sexually abused" by correction officer Benny Santiago who warned they would be punished if they resisted or reported him, the lawsuit alleges.

“Correction officers and other staff know not only that women are regularly abused, but also which officers abuse which women, and when and where the abuse occurs,” says the suit.

“The guard's actions are part of a pervasive culture of rape and other sexual abuse inside Rikers,” it said.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages as well as a court order requiring New York City’s Department of Correction to stem sexual abuse at the jail.

The two women plaintiffs, identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, asked to proceed with their lawsuit anonymously because they feared retaliation from Santiago.

Jane Doe 1 remains incarcerated on Rikers Island but Jane Doe 2 is no longer an inmate there.

Seymour W. James, attorney-in-charge of The Legal Aid Society, said sexual violence is at "record proportions" in New York jails and "rape and other sexual abuse of women are endemic at the Rose M. Singer Center."

A US Justice Department survey in 2011 found that 8.6 percent of the female inmates in the Rose M. Singer Center reported being sexually harassed or abused, compared with 3.2 percent of US jail inmates.

Human Rights Watch also estimates that 140,000 US inmates were raped in 2010.

With nearly 25 percent of the world’s prison population, the United States has the highest documented incarceration rate in the world, costing taxpayers tens of billions of dollars each year.

AHT/AGB

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