28 women file suit over 'night of terror' in Indiana jail, alleging incarcerated men bribed jail

28 women file suit over 'night of terror' in Indiana jail, alleging incarcerated men bribed jail officer for keys

(CNN) -- Twenty-eight incarcerated women in Indiana have alleged in two separate federal lawsuits that they were threatened or sexually assaulted, including two who said they were raped, last year by men incarcerated at the same facility who, according to one of the lawsuits, bribed a corrections officer with $1,000 to obtain the keys to their jail cells.

The women are suing Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel, former Clark County jail officer David Lowe and unidentified jail officers in two federal civil rights actions filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Indiana. The lawsuits stem from events that the plaintiffs say took place in the Clark County Jail in Jeffersonville on the evening of October 23 into the morning of October 24 2021, attorneys for both lawsuits told CNN.

The first lawsuit, filed on June 21 on behalf of 20 named women, alleges that men incarcerated at the same facility threatened, assaulted or raped them over multiple hours after Lowe gave the men keys to access the women's cells. The second lawsuit was filed on July 25 on behalf of eight additional women who are not named, according to Steve Wagner, an attorney who filed the lawsuit. It describes what they called "a night of terror" at the jail and said two men obtained the keys in exchange for a payment of $1,000.

One woman in the first lawsuit alleged that she was raped during the incident and a separate woman in the second lawsuit also alleged she was raped. However, there were no charges filed on these allegations, according to William Perry McCall, an attorney who filed the first lawsuit in June on behalf of 20 women. Attorneys for both lawsuits told CNN that the women are not speaking publicly about their claims, citing reasons such as emotional distress and to protect their identities.

https://www.abc57.com/news/28-women-file-suit-over-night-of-terror-in-indiana-jail-alleging-incarcerated-men-bribed-jail-officer-for-keys-two-women-say-they-were-raped