Ex-prisoner files suit, claims rape at SF County jail

Woman says she ‘begged’ for help before attack

SANTA FE — A woman is suing the Santa Fe County jail and the Santa Fe County Commission alleging not enough was done to protect her from being sexually assaulted while she was incarcerated at the jail, according to a lawsuit filed in state court Monday.

The alleged victim, identified as R.Q. in court filings, claims the jail’s intake screening did not conform with the Prison Rape Elimination Act’s standards and did not adequately identify her risk of being sexually victimized. She asserts that “it was noted” in her Aug. 24, 2014, medical intake history that she was a victim of prior sexual abuse and was concerned about her safety at the jail.

The complaint says R.Q. was initially placed in protective custody but was moved to the general population after an undisclosed amount of time. She reported to jail personnel in November 2014 that she was being sexually harassed by another inmate, but initially her request for protective custody was denied. She was placed in protective custody after she “begged” for it, the suit says, but then was again put back in with the general prisoner population.

On March 1, 2015, another female inmate went into her cell and demanded that she lay down, and R.Q. “felt scared and complied.” The suit says that the inmate then sexually assaulted her with a homemade object. The other inmate told R.Q. that if she said anything, “she knows Mexicanos who know how to make a body disappear,” the complaint says.

R.Q. began to bleed from her genitals two days later. She was taken to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center for examination by a sexual assault nurse examiner, who determined she had sexual injuries. The suit says the alleged attacker, not named as a defendant in the suit, was never punished and has still not been charged.