The 700+ allegations of sex abuse at Rikers Island

Plus: NYPD officer fatally shot during Queens car stop [View this email in a browser.]( Gothamist relies on your support to make local news available to all. Not yet a member? [Consider donating and join today.]( [Late-night sex assaults. Invasive searches. The 700+ women alleging abuse at Rikers.]( [first image]( [Today's newsletter curated by James Ramsay]( Weather: ☁️ Cloudy, highs in the upper 40s. It's Tuesday in New York City, where a Gothamist analysis of civil lawsuits shows the breathtaking scope of alleged abuse at the women’s jail at Rikers Island. The allegations span decades and place New York City’s jail system in the company of other powerful institutions plagued by massive sexual abuse scandals in recent years, including Columbia University, USA Gymnastics and the Catholic Church. Jeny, a Bronx native who did not want to use her full name out of fear of retaliation from correction officers, spoke to Gothamist about her allegations. She was sent to Rikers Island on a felony conviction of driving while impaired. The women in Jeny’s jail dorm warned her about the guards soon after she arrived. “They were like, ‘Oh, you're one of the pretty ones, they're going to pick you,’” she said. And then Jeny remembers how the correction officers started coming for her in the middle of the night. She said they would call out women’s names and ID numbers, ordering Jeny and others out of bed and down a series of long hallways in silence. She described their destination as a dark room with benches, illuminated only by the occasional glow of a flashlight. Jeny said this room was where the guards forced her and other detainees to perform sex acts, adding that the guards were sometimes violent toward women who did not cooperate. Jeny is now suing the City of New York, alleging that it failed to protect her while she was in its custody. Her case is just one of more than 700 civil lawsuits recently filed under the Adult Survivors Act by women who say they were sexually abused while being held at the Rose M. Singer women’s jail on Rikers Island. A warning before you click: The details in this story include graphic descriptions of sexual assault. [Read the investigation here](. 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