Former Rikers detainees urge NYC officials to address sexual abuse in jail

November 1, 2024 | johnmudd

The Gothamist, , Oct 31, 2024

Women who say they were sexually abused by staff at the Rikers Island jail complex urged officials to take their allegations seriously at a City Council oversight hearing on Thursday.

“You hear our stories, you hear our pain, you hear our trauma. We tell it over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again,” said Donna Hylton, who alleges a female captain raped her when she was a teenager at Rikers in the 1980s. “When will we be heard? When will we be believed?”

Hylton is one of more than 700 women who have sued New York City, alleging they were fondled, raped or otherwise sexually abused while in custody over the last 50 years. The lawsuits were filed under the Adult Survivors Act, a state law that opened a one-year window to bring sexual assault suits outside the statute of limitations. Gothamist has reported extensively on the lawsuits, prompting a review by the Bronx district attorney’s office and calls from elected officials for an independent investigation into alleged patterns of sexual abuse.

Over more than four hours on Thursday, councilmembers grilled Department of Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie and other city officials, often citing Gothamist’s investigation. The correction commissioner pledged to do more to prevent and address sexual harassment and assault, both of incarcerated people and staff.

She also said she believed the accounts of the women who testified before the Council — after Councilmember Sandy Nurse repeatedly pressed her.

“I ask you, with all these allegations and what you heard today, do you believe that there’s a problem at Rikers?” Nurse asked. “Do you believe these stories?”

Read More: The Gothamist

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