At this moment, the Big Apple penitentiary system, whose main symbol is Rikers Island, the largest prison in New York, is surrounded by many ghosts: Will it finally be demolished? Could it happen in the coming months to be managed by a federal government monitor?…
But also, another of the questions that gravitate around the prison facility, described as hell, is whether an era of more dignified treatment of the internal female population is closer. And how possible is “some justice” for hundreds of former inmates who report having been harassed and sexually abused by prison guards.
This last question takes on more force, because last year, a legislative window that did not exist before was opened and closed on November 24. This was the Adult Survivors Act (ASA), which gave people who say they were sexually abused a unique opportunity to file civil lawsuits, long after the statute of limitations had expired for most cases. penalties.
With just days to go before the deadline to file these civil lawsuits, more than 2,400 ASA-supported complaints have been filed across New York State, some targeting high-profile individuals, but the majority were filed against prison employees. municipal and state prisons, based on figures published by The Daily Record.
The ASA, which came into effect on November 24, 2022, allowed individuals to seek civil compensation for sexual abuse, which they suffered after turning 18, regardless of the year in which the abuse occurred.
At this time, at least 400 such lawsuits against the New York City Department of Corrections (NYCDOC) have been filed, according to a report by the online publication The City.
Some of the cases that are moving forward pending monetary compensation date back to situations experienced by women who were imprisoned in the 1980s and 1990s.
Many of them are now older adults, mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, who are still trying to move forward with several very heavy crosses: Being a survivor of the penal system, sexual abuse and trying to break the cruel social label that means being in the records as an “ex-convict.”
Like the Child Victims Act, passed in 2019, which extended the statute of limitations for those who were abused as children, this one-year legislation allows people to file complaints about sexual abuse suffered in state facilities, including prisons.
Because each case is different, it is impossible to estimate how much each victim may receive in compensation. However, amounts range from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.
An emblematic case
Among the group of thousands of plaintiffs waiting for “reparation” is Inette Báez, 45, who last September filed a lawsuit that could become an emblem of prison sexual abuse, but also of how the ASA , will begin to show the obstacles that supposed victims have in reporting these crimes and the few filters that penal centers supposedly have to select their security guards.
As detailed in the lawsuit filed before the Bronx Supreme Court, Báez was serving an eight-month sentence in 2004 at the ‘Rose M. Singer’ Women’s Detention Center on Rikers Island. At that time, continuously, as the text of the lawsuit highlights, a correctional officer forced her to perform oral sex and raped her.
It is stated that “on 16 occasions between May 1, 2004 and August 19, 2004, approximately once a week, between 3:00 pm and 11:00 pm,” a correctional officer forced Baéz to have sex inside a kitchen freezer and in his confinement cell.
Additionally, the testimony maintains that behind this act of abuse, there was blackmail that any step of rejection or denunciation could lead her to be punished in a solitary confinement cell.
“He threatened to make my life hell. He made sure he didn’t eat, pick up any of my packages, or make phone calls to contact my family. “Then I got scared,” Báez told The City.
Evidence, background, reports…
This legal suit, among many others of its kind now facing New York City, was brought by the law firm Slater Slater Schulman LLP, a firm that specializes in representing victims of sexual abuse.
“We represent a total of 1,800 women throughout New York State who suffered sexual abuse while incarcerated,” said Adam Slater, manager of this office.
Among the allegations, which support the alleged official negligence in the Báez case, reference is made to a study carried out by the Bureau of Statistics of the United States Department of Justice in 2011, which established that this female detention center had “ one of the highest rates among prisons of sexual misconduct between staff and inmates, including sexual abuse, coercion, and rape.”
Additionally, they highlight in the header of the lawsuit document, that the City was at that time clear that “35% of the recently hired correctional officers were employed despite numerous risks of corruption, including multiple prior arrests and convictions, associations with members of gangs and relationships with inmates.”
In this sense, it is also stated verbatim in the legal complaint that many of the correctional officers hired by NYCDOC “had a history of multiple arrests, one of which involved a guilty plea, in a domestic violence case.” Therefore, they lacked the “good character” required for that position. And, consequently, they should have been rejected.
The underlying criterion for the initiation of this judicial process is to point the finger of blame at the City for “not taking reasonable measures to prevent or reduce the culture of impunity towards sexual abuse.”
Likewise, it is criticized that inmates are not provided with a functional means to confidentially report sexual abuse by prison staff.
Cases closed, windows open
Another of the arguments that is aired in support of Inette Báez’s judicial action is that the consulting firm Moss Group, specialized in prison security, concluded in 2015 that the NTYDOC “had significant problems in addressing accusations of sexual abuse.”
That report, which was conducted under the Bill de Blasio Administration, reviewed 46 cases of sexual abuse or harassment closed by prison investigators in 2014, and found fundamental problems with the thoroughness of the investigations.
“Most investigations did not include interviews with all potential witnesses, some did not include video evidence, and others did not have interviews with the accused guards.”
Spokespeople for the New York City Department of Corrections told El Diario that the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) imposes a series of training and regulations that have established a “zero tolerance” policy toward all forms of abuse. and sexual harassment.
“It cannot be denied that a culture of abuse existed, a history of decades that has already been completely buried. There are some cases that are very true, others not so true. I hope that the opening of this window has not prompted a chain of demands, which are not necessarily based on the truth,” reinforced an official with 20 years of service in that Queens prison.
The other step: “Let them free”
More than 300 organizations that defend Human Rights and promote radical changes in criminal justice in New York, are betting that the State Assembly, next 2024, seals the commitment to approve two bills that would change the rules that govern freedom parole in the state: Elder Parole Act and Fair and Timely Parole Act.
These legislations would guarantee that hundreds of women return to their homes to try to rebuild their lives.
The Parole Campaign (RAPP) coalition estimates that there are currently more than 1,500 people identified as women in New York’s 53 prisons, of which the vast majority are black and Latino. Transgender women are also found in this group.
Additionally, nearly one in five women in New York State prisons (19%) are age 50 or older.
At this time, almost half, or 46%, of the entire female prison population are serving sentences that could be eligible for parole, both because of their age, the years they have been behind bars and their good conduct.
If the draft Elder Parole Act passes in the state legislature, it would give incarcerated people who are 55 years old or older, and who have already served 15 years in prison, the opportunity to appear before a parole board .
In turn, the Fair and Timely Parole Act would change the standards for this benefit and focus release on rehabilitation and changes in the inmate’s behavior while he pays his sentence. Not just in the original crime.
Women in prison in NY:
- 46% of all incarcerated women are serving sentences eligible for parole, as determined by research by the Vera Justice Institute.
- 95% of women in New York state prisons are survivors of trauma and abuse, often including sexual violence and intimate partner violence. 8 out of 10 incarcerated women are mothers.