By Willard Shepard
NBC Miami
MIAMI, Fla. — “Never in my wildest dreams would I think that something could happen to somebody and you couldn’t file a police report,” Barbara Marquez told us. Marquez says she was the victim of a sexual assault in the courtyard of the Miami Dade Corrections Pre-Trial Detention Center where she was visiting her husband.
Surveillance cameras were rolling when the South Florida woman says she was sexually assaulted on county property. It’s a place teeming with those sworn to protect the public: the Miami-Dade County Correctional Facility next to the criminal courthouse. At the heart of the matter …. it appears a turf hot potato. Which agency has jurisdiction over the jail courtyard? On the street and sidewalk, the City of Miami police told us they are responsible. Inside the jail, Miami-Dade police investigates.
Barbara Marquez says she stepped outside into the courtyard for a cigarette. She says a man who appeared to be homeless asked her for a cigarette, then gave her a hug and touched her inappropriately.
Full story: Woman Claims She Could Get No Help After Sexual Assault in Jail Courtyard