By C1 Staff
NEW YORK — Two former Rikers Island inmates are suing a corrections officer and the city of New York after they were raped repeatedly by said officer with the complacency and consent of the city, they claim.
CNN reports that the suit details reports of serial rape and sexual abuse by eight correctional officers at the all-female Rose M. Singer Center, including a case where an inmate was dragged into a janitor’s closet and another where the inmate became pregnant.
The plaintiffs are identified only as Jane Doe 1 and 2, and the suit names Correctional Officer Benne Santiago as their alleged rapist.
The suit alleges that other officers in the center failed to report Santiago, and that he threatened the inmates’ families if they reported their abuse.
A spokesperson for the New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said the department does not comment on pending litigation.
The plaintiffs seek damages from Santiago as well as overhaul of DOCCS policy in order to break what they call “a culture of systematic rape.”
The Rose M. Singer Center was named among the 12 high-rate facilities nationally for cases of sexual misconduct against inmates by staff. According to a 2012 DOJ survey, 5.9 percent of inmates said they were sexually victimized by facility staff.