We tend to think that people get what they deserve when they’re in jail. It is an invisible population, easily dismissed because we self-righteously think they are “getting what they deserved” or they “shoulda thought of that before you committed a crime.” But in reality many people in jail are to be pitied. It can be a short step between a mistake and a crime, especially for female offenders driven by poverty, fear, and often just an inability to cope. As such, these inmates have a basic human right to be safe from the other, meaner jail occupants who are headed out to the Big House.
In this disgusting case, reported here, a county jail officer took bribes to allow male prisoners access to female prisoners’ cells for the purpose of rape and assault. It’s sickening.
Female inmates at an Indiana jail were subjected to a “night of terror” when male detainees gained access to their cells, the women allege in a lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed Friday, July 22, by eight women against Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel and current and former Clark County Jail officers. It’s the second lawsuit filed this summer following the alleged incident, with 20 women filing suit in June, court records show.
The women claim that on Oct. 23, 2021, jail officer David Lowe gave two male detainees keys to the interior of the jail in exchange for $1,000.
That night, the two male detainees and other male inmates went into restricted areas of the jail that housed women, according to the lawsuit.
“Numerous male detainees used the keys obtained from Lowe to enter Pods 4(E) and 4(F), where they raped, assaulted, harassed, threatened and intimidated the plaintiffs in this lawsuit, and other women, for several hours, resulting in significant physical and emotional injuries,” the lawsuit filed in the United States District Court of the Southern District of Indiana says.
The men threatened to further harm the women if they pressed the emergency call button, according to the lawsuit.
28 women held at an Indiana jail are suing after guards gave the keys to their cells to incarcerated men in exchange for a $1000 bribe, allowing the men to rape and assault the women. https://t.co/jw6rQIN4Uy
— Gillian Branstetter (@GBBranstetter) July 26, 2022