Attorney Anna Kull says she has filed hundreds of civil cases related to reports of assault behind bars under the Adult Survivors Act. “There have been high rates of staff-on-inmate sexual victimization in New York State prisons,” she adds.
“How do I have over 200 women who were sexually abused at Rikers? This is a systemic failure,” she asserts. “It requires comprehensive reform and you’re never going to see comprehensive reform without accountability.”
There is no doubt that sexual assaults and abuse continue in US jails and prisons and that more must be done to end it.
Currently, there are about 1.7 million people in custody in the United States, down from 2 million in 2003.
In 1996, state-wide legislation was introduced in New York aiming to criminalize all sexual contact between correction staff and incarcerated persons. However, prior to the law being codified, some consensual sex acts between staff and prisoners were not labeled as crimes, only a rule violation that potentially led to termination of the employee.
In 2003, the Prison Rape Elimination Act known as PREA was signed into law by President George W. Bush and it applies to all correctional facilities. It is codified under 34 USC § 30301(1). Its objective was to eliminate prison rape and it established a zero-tolerance approach in preventing sexual assaults, abuse and harassment of incarcerated persons not only by jail and prison employees, but also by prisoners against other prisoners.
The New York Survivors Act signed by NYS Governor Kathy Hochul in May of 2022 permitted sexual assault victims one year to sue, beginning six months after the signing of the bill regardless of when the sexual assault occurred. Since then hundreds of lawsuits have been filed against NYC by persons formerly incarcerated in NYC jails. This bill overrode the statute of limitations.
Adam Slater, from the law firm Slater Slater Schulman LLP, confirmed to NBC News on Wednesday that the firm has filed 481 lawsuits against the city regarding Rikers’ only women’s facility, the Rose M. Singer Center. Slater said prison culture enables this system of sexual abuse, adding that when there is an “extreme power imbalance, it attracts sexual predators.”
Although NYC is the defendant, the lawsuits potentially allege sexual assaults of incarcerated persons by uniformed employees, non-uniformed employees, medical staff and other prisoners.
In accordance with NYS law and the PREA Act, persons in custody are not capable of giving legal consent to sex with employees because of the power and control that employees have over them.
However, although PREA also seeks to prevent sexual assaults by incarcerated persons against others in custody, a prisoner could still give legal consent to engage in sex with prisoners.
About 60% of the sexual assaults on incarcerated persons are committed by other prisoners and 40% are committed by correctional staff. Although consensual sex between prisoners is a rule violation, it is not a crime.
Throughout the jails and prisons in the United States male staff regularly work in female facilities and female staff regularly work in male facilities.
The PREA law has led to significant progress in preventing sexual assaults, abuse and harassment of those incarcerated, however, more must be done.
Last month, Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, joined advocates in a bid to take control of Rikers Island from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration and appoint an outside authority to oversee the troubled jail complex.
Now, the Adult Survivors Act has provided a new avenue for even a semblance of justice for those who have been victims of sexual assault. It has provided a vehicle for the hundreds of prison lawsuits, but it didn’t come without years of advocacy to get the law passed. Safe Horizon, a New York-based anti-violence organization, helped lead the charge for the act beginning in 2020. A coalition of advocates, legal experts and survivors of violence spoke at news conferences, penned op-eds, met with lawmakers and did more to pass the act.
Michael Polenberg, advocate and vice president of government affairs for Safe Horizon, has expressed the hope that this Act will lead to more progress in wiping out such violence in jails and prisons.
“There has to be a real determined effort from the highest levels in the state to say, ‘We’re not going to tolerate this and we’re going to take every possible step to reduce the likelihood that someone could experience sexual abuse in prison.’”
