Sing Sing prison officers accused of assaulting 26 incarcerated people. What to know

David Robinson, Rockland/Westchester Journal News
·4 min read
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Prison officers have been accused of assaulting 26 incarcerated people at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, allegedly beating the men with fists, boots, and batons during coordinated attacks last fall, according to a lawsuit.

The prisoners were allegedly stripped down to their underwear before getting struck repeatedly by officers, including members of the prison's emergency response team. Some prisoners reported being pepper sprayed and beaten while handcuffed, suffering cuts, bruises and other injuries, the lawsuit claims.

Several prisoners reported not receiving medical care at the maximum-security state prison after the alleged attacks. Some of the men were transported to Mount Vernon Hospital for treatment days and weeks after the incident that spanned from Nov. 7 to 10.

The lawsuit is seeking $1 million in damages for each of the prisoners. The Barket Epstein Kearon Aldea and LoTurco civil rights firm filed the suit on Jan. 31 in the state Court of Claims on behalf of the men.

The state Department of Corrections and a union representing the officers declined comment on the matter, citing the lawsuit.

What the Sing Sing prison assault lawsuit says

Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, photographed July 9, 2019. Present inmates say that industrial fans that blow at rows of cells, stacked in tiers, haven’t worked for over two years, contributing to the extreme heat inside the prison that inmates cope with.
Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, photographed July 9, 2019. Present inmates say that industrial fans that blow at rows of cells, stacked in tiers, haven’t worked for over two years, contributing to the extreme heat inside the prison that inmates cope with.

Many of the alleged assaults on Sing Sing prisoners featured similar details: Officers entered cells, had the men strip to underwear and flipped their mattresses, court records show.

During the cell searches, the officers immediately began striking prisoners and yelling “stop resisting.” Prisoners described the officers’ claims of resisting as unfounded, asserting they complied with all orders before and throughout the beatings, the lawsuit claims.

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One of the prisoners “yelled that he could not breathe as officers tried to shove his head inside a property bag." The officers then handcuffed him and dragged him to the medical unit. On the way there, his body and knees scraped the floor and “his wrists were bleeding from the handcuffs.” He said his “arms felt as if they were going to break” and he did not receive any care at the medical unit, the lawsuit claims.

After being pepper sprayed, handcuffed and “punched, kicked, and stomped on,” another prisoner told officers he was struggling to breathe and asked for his asthma pump. He didn’t get the pump and the officers “continued to punch him while he was handcuffed and blind,” the lawsuit claims.

Another prisoner alleged a female officer “grabbed his genitals and covered his mouth. The officers “then put his head against the rim of the toilet, with his dreadlocks inside the toilet.” Another prisoner said he suffered burns from a radiator during one attack.

Violence in New York prisons at record levels

Numbered doors of an enhanced supervision housing unit, also commonly known as solitary confinement, are shown at the Rikers Island jail complex n New York.
Numbered doors of an enhanced supervision housing unit, also commonly known as solitary confinement, are shown at the Rikers Island jail complex n New York.

The lawsuit comes amid heated debate over the state's Humane Alternatives to Long-Term solitary confinement (HALT) law. It took effect last spring and limits how prison staff can use solitary confinement as punishment because of its adverse health effects on people incarcerated.

The state Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association union asserted the HALT law contributed to 2022 setting record-highs for assaults on prison officers and incarcerated people.

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Assaults last year on officers and incarcerated people totaled 1,489 and 1,486, respectively. That is up from about 1,000 and 1,200 per year on average since 2017, state data show.

Michael Powers, president of the union, urged lawmakers to reform the HALT law during recent state budget hearings. He described the current conditions inside New York’s prisons as “deteriorating,” adding prison officers “are burnt out.”

Disparities in treatment of incarcerated people have also been revealed in recent reports, including the fact people of color are more likely to face discipline while incarcerated in New York prisons compared to their white counterparts, a state Inspector General’s report found.

Martin H. Tankleff, special counsel to the attorneys representing the Sing Sing prisoners in the lawsuit and himself an exoneree, noted in a statement that "abuse at the hand of correctional officers is not uncommon, as it is something I witnessed during my 17-plus years of wrongful imprisonment."

"However, the magnitude of the brutality and numbers should offend and shock people," he added, addressing the case. "When I asked one of my clients what made this cell search different, he said, ‘I believed they were going to kill me.’ "

Eduardo Cuevas of USA TODAY Network contributed to this report

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Sing Sing prison officers accused of assaulting 26 incarcerated people