Over 750 Incarcerated Women To Sue New York Correctional Over Sex Abuse in Jails

Under a new state statute that enables them to pursue legal action against their alleged abusers - even if the charges are decades old - more than 750 women who claim they were sexually abused while imprisoned in New York correctional facilities will have their day in court.

Despite statute of limitations laws that had previously rendered the claims moot, the Adult Survivors Act, which was passed by the Albany legislature earlier this year and will go into effect on Thanksgiving, gave victims a one-year window to file civil lawsuits against their attackers and the organizations that provided them with protection.

Women to Sue New York Over Prison Sex Abuse

Per NY Post, taxpayers should expect to spend millions of dollars to settle the accusations, which are likely to target the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision as well as the officers allegedly implicated.

During a news conference on Wednesday, Adam Slater, whose legal firm Slater Slater Schulman is representing the survivors, said, "These heroic survivors of sexual assault were in jail serving prison terms set by our courts but what they were given were life sentences of agony."

One of those women, Sadie Bell, 61, said that while she was incarcerated at the now-closed Bayview Correctional Facility in Manhattan decades ago, a sergeant "violently raped" her and later caused an ectopic pregnancy, rendering her infertile.

State Corrections Department spokesman Thomas Mailey stated in a statement that the organization has "zero tolerance for sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and unlawful relationships" and that it looks into all claims of sexual victimization. According to data collected by the State Corrections Department in October, there are around 31,100 inmates housed in 44 state prisons. Three of the state's all-female institutions house about 1,200 women.

The volume of responses from women having served time-a group frequently disregarded because of the negative associations associated with prison-surprised several politicians and even the attorneys at Slater Slater & Schulman. The number of women who claim they were victimized, according to Adam Slater, a partner at the company, is startling.

The firm's clients include Sadie Bell, 61, who says she suffered an ectopic pregnancy and was left infertile after being raped by a prison sergeant at Bayview. Another is Kia Wheeler, 49, from the Bronx, who says she was repeatedly and violently sexually assaulted for months by a guard at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester.

When Jacqueline Wiggins, 58, was spending time at Bayview for attempting to sell a restricted narcotic roughly 30 years ago, she claims a guard raped her there. She claims that she can still recall his teeth, body odor, and hairdo. Wiggins, a nurse, claimed that she had attempted for years to block out his face from her thoughts.

But towards the beginning of November, she was watching television in bed at her Long Island house when a Slater Slater and Schulman commercial flashed over the screen. It read: If you were ever a prisoner at Bayview Correctional Facility and experienced sexual assault, please get in touch with us. She has never disclosed what she claims to have gone through to anybody, including her best friend, family, and her three children.

A report detailing abuse at Bayview Corrections Facility that was purportedly given to the state in 1985, according to the victims' attorneys, is a crucial component of their case. Although they do not comment on ongoing lawsuits, the New York State Department of Correction stated that they have zero tolerance for sexual abuse of any type. The Department of Correction for New York City has not yet made a comment, as per Fox5NY.

Adult Survivors Act Enables Prisoners to File Civil Lawsuits

The Adult Survivors Act, passed in May, enables anyone who claim they were sexually assaulted a single chance to bring civil lawsuits after the statute of limitations for the majority of criminal prosecutions has run out. Lawmakers in New York expected that prisoners, both present and past, would file a lawsuit. The new legislation permits anyone to report complaints of maltreatment in state facilities, including prisons.

It is similar to the Child Victims Act that was approved in 2019, which extended the statutes of limitations for those who were abused as children. According to Brad Hoylman, the New York State senator who introduced the measure, there is no limit on how much the state may spend to resolve these cases.

The $220 billion state budget and perhaps the roughly $500 million set aside for unforeseen costs would be used to pay for the expenditure. Similar legislation was enacted in September in California. The law becomes operative in New York on November 24, as per NY Times.

At least 750 individual civil actions on behalf of women who are detained are anticipated to be filed at the Slater Slater and Schulman law firm alone, according to the attorneys there. A few of the incidents involving women go back to the 1980s and 1990s.

It's probable that more legal firms will follow. The Boy Scouts of America and the Catholic Church have both been targets of sex abuse lawsuits brought by Slater Slater and Schulman. In its institutions, the State Corrections Department has a lengthy history of sexual abuse.

In the early 1980s, claims involving the now-defunct Bayview Correctional Facility in Manhattan were looked into by the Department of Justice. In 1985, the agency published a damning report regarding the abuse along with suggestions for the state.