Rikers Island Inmates Save Female Correctional Officer From Being Raped By Prisoner

Raleek Young, 27 years old, is an inmate at Rikers Island Correctional Center, the main prison in the Bronx, New York City, New York. He was convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2007, and was sentenced to five to ten years in prison for the crime.

Unfortunately, Raleek found an opportunity to assault a female again, and he took the chance on carrying on that assault on Saturday night, when he found himself in a situation in which he either was already alone in a locked vestibule with a female correctional officer, or somehow managed to lock her in himself. Fortunately for the officer, the vestibule was made of plexiglass, and other inmates soon realized that she was about to be raped and decided that they were going to do everything in their power to stop that from happening to her.

The inmates ripped the plexiglass from the wall, and a thin inmate was able to slide through a narrow portion in order to unlock the door and let many other inmates inside, who immediately came to the guard’s defense. The sexual assault was already taking place, but they subdued the 290 pound inmate until other correctional guards could come to her defense.

Unfortunately, the rapist had already ripped off her sweater, grabbed her face, and forcibly kissed her, had pulled his pants down, and was masturbating as he choked the officer, according to other inmate accounts and surveillance cameras. The other inmates were able to intervene at that point.

To further complicate the situation, jail administration did not initially acknowledge the assault was sexual in nature, according to the Latin Post. They called it a “routine use of force,” which angered the correctional officers so much that they refused to take their posts at the 3 p.m. shift, sources said.

Correction Department spokeswoman Eve Kessler told Daily News, “The matter is under investigation.”

However, Correction Officers Benevolent Association President Norman Seabrook reported to the prison and convinced the correctional officers on duty to report to their posts the following day after the forcible assault was labeled as “use of force” instead of sexual assault. It is unclear why it was not labelled as sexual assault at this time. Seabrook says he will seek accountability in the case of the attempted rape.

“There must be accountability. Officers are assaulted every day, and (Bronx DA Robert Johnson) has the audacity to say, ‘Not today, bring him back at another time’. I will not tolerate it. I will not stand for it.”

[photo credit to ReuvenBlau/Twitter]