Survivors of prison sexual assault loudly declared they would no longer keep quiet in their effort to get City Hall to protect incarcerated New Yorkers.
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump led the Nov. 13 rally in Foley Square along with survivors as they charged that the city is dragging its feet when it comes to protecting the imprisoned from systematic abuse.
The survivors – many of whom were women of color — recounted horrific stories of rape and sexual assault they suffered at the hands of correctional guards while in the city’s correction system. The stories were difficult to tell and hear; some visibly wept while listening to them.
Still, the survivors said it was important to relay their tales in an effort to protect others from suffering the same fate.
“When I was raped, I didn’t have a microphone in front of me — I didn’t have ears to listen to me,” Tasha Carter Beasley said. “I was a prisoner, and I didn’t have a voice then, but I have one now. And let me tell you something: it didn’t take just waking up to get here. This has been a long road, a long road of memories of somebody’s penis in my mouth that shouldn’t have been there, memories of me doing things that I was forced to do.”
The rally at Foley Square was organized by attorneys Slater Slater Schulman LLP and Levy Konigsberg LLP on the one-year anniversary of the State’s Adult Survivors Act (ASA), which amended state law to allow survivors of sexual offenses for which the statute of limitations had lapsed to file civil suits.
Since the amendment, Slater Slater Schulman and Levy Konigsberg have filed a combined 1,553 cases against the State for abuse in state prisons and 686 cases against the City of New York for abuse at Rikers Island.
Despite the renewed focus on what they cite as an epidemic of sexual misconduct inside jailhouses, victims and their legal representatives say that the city is still doing very little to ensure protection for those serving time.
“This crisis represents a longstanding failure by the State to protect those in its care, and we will continue to press for immediate action,” said Crump. “New York must address these systemic issues and finally take responsibility for the safety of all incarcerated individuals. We won’t stop fighting for the justice these survivors deserve.”
Many of the female victims allege that on-duty guards forced them into sexual acts. The abuse they suffered is something they live with every day, and they charged that city and state officials have done little to provide justice.
“The Department of Corrections is an organization tasked with the responsibility of protecting tens of thousands of inmates and officers,” Jackie Farrell, a survivor, said. “Any officer who crosses this line has breached his title of trusted officer and has not fulfilled the public’s trust. While legislation making it a crime for guards to have sex with inmates was passed in 1995, I can count on one hand the officers who were arrested, and no officer was jailed. Now, more than ever, the State must enact the proper resolutions to ensure the safety and security of incarcerated people.”
Speakers also called upon the Adams administration to take greater precautions, ensuring that incarcerated individuals are not victimized.
In a statement to amNewYork Metro, the Department of Correction said they take the claims seriously.
“The NYC Department of Correction takes claims of sexual misconduct seriously, and such behavior will not be tolerated. The Department cannot comment further due to pending litigation,” the statement read.
