Mayor Adams silent on guards accused of sexual abuse at Rikers as calls for action grow

Gothamist's reporting on sexual assault allegations at Rikers Island was recognized as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. You can read our entire series here.

Mayor Eric Adams won’t say if five correction officers identified by Gothamist should be placed on leave while the city reviews allegations of sexual abuse leveled against them by former inmates at Rikers — despite an increasing number of public officials urging more robust action.

More than 700 former Rikers detainees recently filed lawsuits alleging they were groped, raped or otherwise sexually abused in city custody. The allegations span almost five decades — from the 1970s to the present day — and nearly all allegedly occurred in the women’s jail, the Rose M. Singer Center. The lawsuits collectively seek more than $14.7 billion in damages.

At a press conference Tuesday, Adams dodged a question about whether his administration should launch a separate investigation into the guards currently employed by the correction department, and whether they should be placed on leave until a review of the allegations against them is completed.

"We have to allow investigations to take their course. That’s important,” the mayor said. “But you don’t want to keep people in harm’s way. The law department and the DOC will make that decision.”

The revelation that several guards accused in the lawsuits stands in contrast to Adams’ continued insistence that the allegations are decades old, and he now faces a growing chorus of voices calling for him to do more to address them, even going so far as to ask for outside help.

“We should be doing everything we can to protect women,” said Councilmember Sandy Nurse, who chairs the criminal justice committee. “Anybody that is under the care of our city should not be harmed. And it shouldn't be controversial as a policy.”

She said Adams could convene a task force, hire an independent attorney or investigative firm, or ask for help from state and federal partners.

Adams had called for a "thorough investigation" into the lawsuits in March, after Gothamist first reported on the scope of the allegations and patterns that emerged in many of the complaints. He later walked back that statement, clarifying that he thinks the law department — which is responsible for defending the city from litigation — is the best agency to look into the accusations.

Nurse said that relying on the law department wasn’t sufficient and would not produce an objective review of the women’s claims.

Comptroller Brad Lander, who is running to unseat Adams next year, urged the city to “immediately launch an investigation” in response to Gothamist’s latest reporting.

“Continued violence, mismanagement, and lack of accountability demonstrate why appointing a federal receiver and closing Rikers is imperative,” Lander said on X.

The Department of Correction said it would not comment on specific cases but a spokesperson, Annais Morales, said the agency takes sexual assault allegations against guards seriously.

Federal guidelines adopted by New York City require jails to separate alleged abusers from people who report that they've been sexually assaulted. None of the women who’ve accused current correction employees of sexual abuse are being held at Rikers now, according to Department of Correction records.

The guidelines don’t require officers to be suspended when they are sued in civil court. But staff often are placed on leave when they face criminal allegations.

One of the officers accused of sexual assault in at least two lawsuits, Anthony Martin Jr., was suspended without pay earlier this year — but not because of those civil complaints. It happened after he was arrested and charged with raping a different woman while off duty in his Springfield Gardens home.

One of the women who accused Martin Jr. in civil court filed a report in 2021 in which she claimed that he assaulted her at Rikers the year before, but the Department of Correction has no record of her complaint and doesn’t appear to have ever investigated it.

Martin Jr. has denied the allegations against him and told Gothamist he hadn’t heard about the lawsuits before he was contacted by a reporter. Two other current officers facing allegations who were reached by Gothamist said no one had informed them about the litigation.

This story has been updated. A Department of Correction spokesperson responded to a request for comment after publication.