While the City has faced lawsuits before over claims of guards raping detainees at Rosie’s, the women’s jail on Rikers Island, the issue gained new attention last year due to the Adult Survivors Act, signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul in 2022. . Jessy Edwards’ story for The Vital City reflects the 10 months spent investigating these claims with her colleagues at Gothamist, reviewing thousands of pages of lawsuits and handwritten City records, and interviewing dozens of formerly incarcerated women, correction officers and other insiders.
By the time the one-year window closed last November, the claims included more than 2,000 filings from formerly incarcerated people who say they were sexually assaulted by staff at New York’s jails and prisons. This story’s investigation found that more than 700 of the 1,256 lawsuits filed in New York City’s Supreme Courts involved allegations of sexual assault by Rikers staff against women — nearly 60% of the claims. The sheer volume of allegations, spanning from the 1970s to 2023, shocked even lawmakers who helped pass the Adult Survivors Act, including New York State Senator Julia Salazar. “It demonstrates why the act was so important,” Salazar said. But more must be done to prevent sexual violence in jails in the first place, she said. Collectively, the women are collectively seeking $14.7 billion in damages from New York City, arguing that the City “knew or should have known” about the alleged culture of abuse at Rosie’s.