On May 19, 2015, former inmates at the all-female jail on Rikers Island filed this lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs sued New York City under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The plaintiffs, represented by Legal Aid and private attorneys, asked the court for declaratory and injunctive relief as well as compensatory and punitive damages. The plaintiffs claimed that the City of New York violated their rights of due process and free speech under the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Specifically, the plaintiffs claimed that at the Rose M. Singer Center, the all-female jail on Rikers Island, the City of New York permitted corrections officers to sexually assault inmates and that inmates were allowed to be retaliated against when they reported the sexual assault to higher authorities.

On January 5, 2016, the Court, Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein, released a summary order denying plaintiff's motion for class certification. The court found that the class was not sufficiently ascertainable as proposed and that the plaintiffs lacked typicality and commonality in their claims. The court was also concerned that granting class certification would make it more difficult for currently unknown victims to file a damages suit in the future. However, the court ruled that the claims of the individual plaintiffs survived for both monetary and equitable relief.

As of February 18, 2016, this lawsuit is ongoing.

Kat Brausch - 02/18/2016


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