Raped at Rikers: suit
‘I feel like an animal,’ he told doc after alleged attack
A former inmate is suing the city and three correction officers after being brutally raped in the bathroom while detained at Rikers Island, a new suit alleges.
The inmate, who is referred to as John Doe in documents filed in Manhattan Federal Court on July 8, says he was grabbed by the neck and put in a chokehold Dec. 17, 2017, during an early-morning shower at the Anna M. Kross Center’s mental observation unit. According to the suit, Doe fell unconscious and was “sexually penetrated in his rectal area.”
When he came to on the bathroom floor, he saw that he was bleeding from his buttocks. He asked correction officers to call for immediate medical attention, the suit says, but he was not taken to see a doctor until two days later. “What hurt me the most is that I didn’t even know who did this to me,” Doe tearfully told a psychiatrist before pulling down his pants to reveal his bloodied underwear, according to medical records dated Dec. 19. “I feel like an animal.”
“I am in so much pain,” he also told the doctor, who noted Doe “was not able to sit comfortably” and appeared “very anxious” during the appointment. “I am not suicidal,” he said. “I like to keep [to] my cell so no one will see me clean this blood … I will need to speak to my family to get help.”
Doe also went to Bellevue Hospital’s emergency room Dec. 19, where doctors confirmed he suffered injuries consistent with sexual assault. It was unclear from the medical records whether or not he ever received a rape kit. The city Law Department declined to comment on the suit.
Prior to the attack, Doe — who was placed in the mental observation unit due to an ongoing battle with depression — allegedly made several complaints to a captain about other inmates hanging up sheets in the shower for privacy. He claimed the boss warned him not to blabber about others on the block, otherwise he’d wind up in trouble.
Soon after, Doe was considered a “snitch” by other detainees, and it was “reasonably foreseeable that he would be assaulted” by inmates housed in the mental observation unit. The three correction officers on duty at the time also “failed to take the necessary steps to protect [the inmate] while he was in their care,” the suit says.
Doe’s attorney Andrew Plasse said the cruelty of the incident is one of the worst cases of sexual abuse he’s seen at Rikers.
“It’s a horrible story. … This was one was pretty bad,” he said of the attack on Doe, who is serving time upstate at Elmira Correctional Facility for third-degree robbery. “He doesn’t talk about it much now,” Plasse added, noting Doe copes with emotional distress and suffers from a back injury sustained during the assault.
Doe is suing for unspecified damages, said Plasse.