Female Rikers Inmate Raped By Man Posing As Woman: Lawsuit

QUEENS, NY — A former female inmate at Rikers Island says she was sexually assaulted multiple times by a male inmate, who was instructed by jail staff to pose as transgender so he could sexually assault women, according to a civil lawsuit.

The plaintiff, identified only by the name “Rose Doe,” said she warned staff at the Rose M. Singer Center women's jail multiple times about the perpetrator’s sexual advances, before he pulled down her pants while she was sleeping and began to rape her, she said in the lawsuit.

Doe claimed that the perpetrator "was instructed to claim that he was transgender by DOC staff so that he could stay in the female dorm where he would have access to female inmates," and was only removed from the women's dorm after the other inmates kicked him out. She also alleged that the other inmate was part of a prostitution ring within Rikers Island "that involved staff and inmates."

According to the lawsuit, the other inmate (whom Patch is not naming because this is a civil lawsuit, not a criminal case) was moved into Doe's dorm at the Rose M. Singer Center on April 4, 2022. The 21-year-old Doe was in a Protective Custody dorm at the time, which included some disabled women and several petite women, the lawsuit states.

The DOC declined to comment on any specifics of the lawsuit, as it is active litigation. The Department noted that gender identity is self-reported by individuals in custody, and that they do not require any sort of documentation to prove it.

The plaintiff claims the perpetrator told another inmate that he was not transgender or gay, and was only there to have sex with women. Doe said she became very fearful for her safety, as she had already reported sexual assaults and harassments by other women in the past that had been ignored, according to the lawsuit.

Doe gave a handwritten statement about her concerns to correctional staff that was only sent on to superiors after she was sexually assaulted twice on April 6, 2022, the lawsuit states. She made a second complaint to staff the afternoon of the 6th, after the perpetrator had made sexual advances to her in the bathroom and grabbed her buttocks, documents show.

The acting warden of the facility sent an email to staff saying that he felt the inmate in question "was not a suitable fit" for the women's prison and asking members of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) unit to visit the unit the next morning, the suit said.

That night, there were no corrections officers directly assigned on the unit, according to the lawsuit. While Doe was asleep in her bed, she said in the suit that the perpetrator pulled down her pants and began to rape her, strangling her while doing so. The other inmates awoke, and those that could began to assault the perpetrator and kick him out of the ward, the suit said.

Doe further alleged that the officers on the unit refused to let her get medical attention for more than a day, and failed to preserve evidence of the assault. She said states in the suit that she was not given a proper diet for her diabetes and medical conditions throughout her time at Rikers, which made her weak and susceptible.

The other inmate was in DOC custody from Sept. 18, 2021 until Aug. 10, 2023 before being transferred to state prison, according to a spokesperson for the Department. Records show he is being kept in Clinton Correctional Facility.

Doe was discharged from Rikers Island on Aug. 1, 2022, court documents show.

About 0.7 percent of DOC inmates are transgender, intersex, or gender-nonconforming, according to the most recent population demographics. Nicholas Liakas, the attorney representing Rose Doe, told NBC New York that the failure of corrections staff to take an impostor seriously could endanger actual transgender people who have been fighting for their right to be housed according to their gender identity.

"When someone is claiming to be something they’re not it’s to the detriment of the entire community now, because it will cause concern," he said.

Last year, whistleblowers reported that trans women in Rikers Island face increased danger after an LGBTQ+ Affairs Unit was all but gutted, as Patch reported.