After an officer sold a male inmate a key to the women’s wing, a group of 28 women claim they were repeatedly attacked and raped in a southern Indiana prison.
The women have filed two lawsuits against the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, former corrections officer David Lowe, and unnamed jail staff in Jeffersonville.
After being detained in connection with the horrific incident in which he let convicts access to the jail’s secure areas in exchange for $1,000, Lowe is now facing further felony charges.
On October 24, 2021, the male convicts subjected dozens of women to a “night of dread” that lasted for at least two hours without interruption.
The men entered the women’s wing using the keys Lowe had given them, hiding their faces so they could not be seen, and shouting and threatening to injure them if they used the emergency call button.
Twenty of the women have filed a complaint against Sheriff Jamey Noel, who is accused of acting both personally and professionally.
Eight additional women, all referred to as Jane Does, are also suing the Sheriff’s office, Lowe, and unidentified jail officials; however, they are not specifically suing Sheriff Noel.
Both civil claims assert that in exchange for payment, Lowe handed the male convicts the keys to the female detention pods.
The fly-on-the-wall reality TV programme 60 Days In, in which volunteers act as inmates, has featured the Clark County Jail.
According to Law & Crime, a lawyer for the women claimed that “strategic cameras were left in the cell on the day of the event.”
After the event, he was quickly investigated before being detained and let go.
Around 11.30 p.m., two guys entered and vowed to kill the inmates if the women sought to seek assistance from the guards.
Then, as more males entered the pods, they grabbed and propositioned the female prisoners, showing them their genitalia.
Some of the women were made to hide in their dormitory’s restroom or other “dark spots.”
At least two women were allegedly raped during the savage, protracted attacks that went on for hours.
The civil lawsuit stated that “[the female inmates] suffered horrific physical and psychological injuries as a direct and proximate cause of the actions of Defendants.”
‘Amazingly, even though there were surveillance cameras placed in locations that showed the male detainees accessing the woman’s Pods,’ the second lawsuit states in part.
“Even though the incident involved numerous male detainees and numerous victims over the course of a significant amount of time, not a single jail officer on duty that night came to the assistance of Plaintiffs and the other victims,” the lawsuit claims.
The victims were punished by jail staff losing their “dark” privileges so that “lights remained on in the female pods for the next 72 hours” after the attack finally stopped.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, the Clark County Sheriff’s office defended itself, claiming that the incident was “the result of the unforseeable criminal actions of a rogue corrections officer.”
By giving inmates access to the jail keys, “the individual in question chose to forsake his training, ethics, and morals and made the unilateral decision to mortgage his career and future.”
The “rogue officer,” Lowe, has been charged with aiding an escape, trafficking with an inmate, and official misconduct; his trial is scheduled for November of this year.
Twenty of the women’s representatives, Bart Betteau and William McCall III, confirmed that the majority had since been released from prison.
Betteau said, “I believe that there is video because there always is,” in an interview with DailyMail.com.
We have made as many requests as we can, but not enough time has passed for them to be required to comply. We believe that evidence will be available.
“We want changes made first and foremost.” This is absolutely horrible. You can feel how horrifying it is when you talk to the women.
They were in a secure area when male prisoners barged in and did whatever they pleased, including raping women, for a number of hours.
There are buttons inside the door for emergencies and in the main pods for alerting the jailers, but neither of these functions.
Again, they do nothing in a video-covered area. They are only supposed to perform the routine jail officer walkthroughs.
“You can’t fathom their horror until you look these women in the eye and hear them talk about it.”
According to a statement made by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, jail command learned about the event after a lawyer called to say that his client had told him that male inmates had obtained the keys and entered the women’s pod.
According to the report, an urgent investigation was launched, which involved watching security footage and listening to audio recordings of all male convicts, corrections staff, and more than 40 female inmates.
The department released a statement saying, “The sheriff’s detective division has continued to interview female inmates who were present in the pod that evening and these interviews have revealed material that is in direct contradiction to the charges stated in the civil suit.”
“Furthermore, the investigation tends to imply that there was a systemic plan by persons who were detained that evening to build the story that constitutes the core of the allegations in the civil case,” says the report.
According to the agency, it is “dedicated to dispelling those falsehoods that have been made by individuals who are trying to profit financially from the crimes of David Lowe.”
Previously, the Clark County Jail took part in the A+E Network television programme 60 Days In, in which volunteers act as prisoners for a set period of time.
It is understood that the presently airing episode was not being filmed at the time of the occurrence.