On February 25, 2016, six women prisoners in the custody of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) filed this class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The plaintiffs, anonymous by request, sued various DOCCS officials in their official capacity, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, under 42 U.S.C. 1983, claiming violations of their Eighth Amendment rights.
The plaintiffs were represented by The Legal Aid Society Prisoners' Rights Project and by private counsel.
The plaintiffs alleged a widespread pattern and practice of sexual abuse, assault and harassment by correctional staff in New York State women's prisons. The plaintiffs alleged that the defendants, despite knowing about the persistent sexual abuse, failed to take any reasonable steps to address the situation. In their complaint, the plaintiffs alleged sexual intercourse, oral sexual acts, sexual touching, voyeurism, invasion of personal privacy and demeaning sexual comments by correctional officers. Each of the six plaintiffs in the complaint described corrections officers' repeated and extensive sexual misconduct. The complaint also detailed the retaliation and harassment of plaintiffs after they, at various times, reported the officers' misconduct. The plaintiffs alleged that officials in charge of DOCCS were aware of the issue of sexual misconduct in the state's women's prisons but failed to implement and enforce effective policies that would combat the problem.
On September 29, 2016, plaintiffs' lawyers informed the court that the parties were actively engaged in negotiations and might ask for a two-year stay while DOCCS implements its new policies. The plaintiffs agreed to voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit if the implementation proved to be successful.
On December 13, 2016, individual plaintiff Jane Jones 5 voluntarily dismissed her claims. The other plaintiffs remained in the case. On June 13, 2017, United States District Judge Ronnie Abrams approved the parties’ stipulation and ordered the action to be stayed for two years from the date of the stipulation. On March 19, 2019, Judge Abrams approved a 120-day extension of the stay, until October 12, 2019. Judge Abrams subsequently approved 6 additional stays, the last being on April 10, 2020 extending the stay 6 days.
Before the April 10 stay was lifted, the COVID-19 public health emergency prompted the court to stay the case further. On April 15, 2020, Judge Abrams issued a stay until September 7, 2020 when the state disaster emergency order is set to expire. The order went on to say that upon termination of the COVID-19 disaster emergency a nine-month "Monitored Stay" period will commence. If the plaintiffs do not move to lift the Monitored Stay during the nine-month period, the case will be automatically dismissed with prejudice. However, the order explicitly protects the plaintiffs ability to seek individual monetary damages or to seek injunctive relief during the Monitored Stay if there is an imminent risk of physical harm.
Greg Margolis - 02/10/2017
Lisa Limb - 03/22/2019
Alex Moody - 05/26/2020
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