Bx. youth jail sued over 19 years of sex horrors

A BRONX juvenile detention center has been marred by “countless” reports over nearly two decades that young inmates were sexually abused there, court papers allege.

Horizon Juvenile Center is the subject of an Aug. 30 lawsuit alleging female guards got boys drunk and sexually assaulted them.

“Ever since Horizon opened its doors to juvenile detainees,” in 1998, “Horizon has been the subject of countless reports of sexual and physical abuse of male and female juvenile detainees by Horizon employees,” the amended complaint filed Thursday in Manhattan Federal Court charges.

One of the accusers claimed in court papers that a Horizon employee contacted the city Department of Investigation about one of the guards - Natalie Medford — before she allegedly assaulted him.

The tipster told DOI that Medford was spotted “naked on top of the detainee inside of the detainee’s cell,” court papers state.

Medford, who a source said no longer works at Horizon, could not immediately be reached. DOI declined to comment. The Bronx district attorney’s child abuse and sex crimes unit is investigating abuse claims at Horizon, said Patrice O’Shaughnessy, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office.

The 19-year-old accuser learned of rampant abuse during his 2010 stay at Horizon, when he saw his roommate “escorted from his cell during the night” by Medford, according to his lawsuit, filed by lawyer Vik Pawar. The plaintiff was 15 at the time.

When he asked his roommate, identified in court papers only by the initials J.S., what was going on, J.S. said Medford was taking him to a private area for intercourse, the suit alleges.

The alleged victim claims he was sexually assaulted during his third stay at Horizon — from 2013 to 2014. Medford had sexual contact with him at least three or four times. She kissed him, held hands with him and caressed his back, he claimed in the suit.

“I didn’t have a choice,” the accuser previously told the Daily News. “She was doing everything to make me feel I was doing the right thing. After a while, I started growing up.”

The Administration for Children’s Services, which runs Horizon, referred a request for comment to the city Law Department, which did not immediately respond.