NEW YORK — A new scandal has hit the besieged New York City Department of Correction.
More than 100 lawsuits were filed Tuesday alleging sexual abuse is rampant in the city’s juvenile detention centers. The lawsuits point to a pattern of abuse dating back decades.
The lawsuits were filed under a special “look back” law passed by the City Council and seek monetary damages. A city spokesperson says that while most of the cases predate Mayor Eric Adams’ administration, the city takes the allegations seriously and will work with the legal department to address them.
Nijere Stewart told his story to CBS New York’s Marcia Kramer
In an exclusive interview, Stewart said he was repeatedly raped and assaulted during the five months he was in custody.
Kramer saw photos of Stewart in happier times, including when he graduated from high school in eighth grade.
“For example, I was a straight ‘A’ student. I was a nice kid, always smiling, running around, always going somewhere,” Stewart said.
But that all changed dramatically in 2008, when he was imprisoned at the Crossroads Detention Center in Brooklyn at the age of fifteen. His version of the circumstances is that he “was with some friends, we were hanging out in front of a building and the police came. They found a firearm under the stairs that didn’t belong to us.”
He said ultimately no charges were ever filed, “because the firearm wasn’t mine. It wasn’t mine.”
But according to a lawsuit against the Department of Correction, he still spent five months at Crossroads, a time that became hell, a time that scarred him forever.
“Mr. Stewart was sexually assaulted in a serious, serious way”
Attorney Jerry Block is filing the lawsuits against the city and the Department of Correction on behalf of Stewart and other teen clients who spent time in the city’s juvenile detention centers – Crossroads, Horizon, Rikers and Spofford, which has since closed.
“Many of our clients have been raped. Many were forced to perform oral sex or other sexual acts. These cases are so serious because the perpetrators are adults,” Block said. “The same people who were charged with the safety of our clients, the corrections officers, the counselors, the nurses, all these different types of staff, they were the ones who committed the abuse.”
In some cases, the abuse began immediately. Sometimes the children were ‘taken care of’.
“We have many cases where there was grooming and manipulation, where children were given alcohol, children were given drugs, children were given special privileges,” Block said.
In Stewart’s case, he said, there was violence and brutality
“Sexually, they touched me. They asked me to do things I didn’t want to do,” Stewart said, when asked what had been done to him. “There are a lot of things in my head. I don’t want to repeat it again.”
When asked if he had been raped, Stewart said, “Yes, correct,” adding, “It makes me feel less of a man.”
When he finally came out of Crossroads, he was no longer the happy little boy who came in five months earlier.
“Because of the abuse, I was afraid to interact with people. I was afraid to tell people where I was, what was happening to me, because people were asking me where I was and I was just afraid to tell people what was going on,” Steward said.
Block said his clients have long-lasting trauma from their experiences in the detention centers.
“Our clients have suffered from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and they have suffered from this throughout their lives. Childhood sexual abuse is known to be one of the worst traumas a person can experience,” said Block.
Marcia Kramer
