Women Inmates Groped, Assaulted And Raped By Male Prisoners Who Bought Keys From Jailor For $1,000: Lawsuits

Some women inmates have accused an Indiana sheriff and corrections officer of enabling "a night of terror" in jail in October 2021.

A total of 28 women alleged in two separate federal lawsuits that David Lowe, a former Clark County corrections officer, sold jail keys to two male inmates for $1,000, reported Fox News. Those two men and other prisoners then allegedly entered the women’s side of the prison. They wore masks that were made out of towels and blankets.

Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel, Lowe and additional "unknown" officers who were working the night of the attack were mentioned in the lawsuits. According to the lawsuits, at least two of the victims were raped. One of them suffered physical injuries at the time and also contracted genital herpes. Others were sexually assaulted, groped and subjected to male inmates exposing themselves.

According to William McCall, a lawyer for 20 of victims, the other rape victim became pregnant as a result and later miscarried. He said that the women that were subjected to the "extended period that these male inmates were running rampant in the women’s pod still are suffering great emotional issues."

A federal lawsuit read that on the night of Oct. 23, and into the early morning hours of Oct. 24, 2021, many male inmates "used the keys obtained from Lowe" to enter women's pods. They "raped, assaulted, harassed, threatened and intimidated the plaintiffs in this lawsuit and other women for several hours, resulting in significant physical and emotional injuries."

The lawsuit further read that there were "surveillance cameras positioned in locations that showed the male detainees accessing the women’s pods." Even though the incident involved multiple male detainees and dozens of victims over an extended period of time, "not a single jail officer on duty that night came to the aid of the plaintiffs and the other victims."

According to the lawsuit, as the attack was occurring, security cameras were recording audio and video that should have been available live to the unnamed officers. But they failed to intervene. When the officers finally arrived, authorities allegedly punished the women. Their lights were kept on for three days straight, personal items were confiscated and normal privileges were revoked.

Fox 59 reported that Lowe, whose trial is scheduled for Nov. 1, faces criminal charges of trafficking with an inmate, aiding escape and official misconduct. Lowe was fired within days of the attack, but he said that he is innocent and "was set up." The 29-year-old shook violently and broke down sobbing as he told Daily Mail that he was "coerced into a false confession." He "feared for his safety" during questioning by a senior detective from Clark County Sheriff's Office in Jeffersonville, Indiana.