Twenty-eight incarcerated women have sued Clark County, Indiana, officials, alleging that they gave two male inmates the keys to the women’s cells in exchange for a $1,000 bribe. The News and Tribune reports that group of male detainees then allegedly used those keys to rape, harass and abuse the women on October 23, 2021, in what the women’s attorneys describe as a “night of terror.”
This month, eight more women joined the initial lawsuit that was filed by 20 women in June against Clark County corrections officer David J. Lowe, Sheriff Jamey Noel, and other “unknown” jail officers. The incarcerated men, “who covered their faces so they could not be identified, were yelling and threatening to harm the women if they called for help or pressed the emergency call button,” according to the lawsuit, which alleges that at least two women were raped that night.
“Women were harassed, sexually assaulted, threatened and completely terrified,” attorney Bart Betteau told WTHR. “When I met with each and every one of these women, and they broke down repeatedly, you get the impression, the understanding of what these women went through.”
Jail officials then retaliated against the women for speaking up by leaving the lights on for three straight days, “denying them normal privileges and confiscating pillows, blankets and hygiene items,” according to the lawsuit.
Lowe, 29, was arrested in October immediately after the incident happened after admitting to taking the bribe:
28 Incarcerated Women Allege That Guards Allowed Male Inmates to Rape Them for $1000
The women are suing officers at an Indiana jail for having given male prisoners keys to their cells in exchange for a bribe, allowing the men to terrorize them.
jezebel.com