How much would you pay a correctional officer to squeeze an inmate's testicles so hard he loses control of his bowels? We hope you're comfortable with $300,000! Of course, on any given night in New York City, there are guys paying big bucks for this kind of deviant activity, but this particular incident at Arthur Kill Correctional Facility wasn't consensual, and taxpayers are footing the settlement. But if there's a silver lining to any of this, it's that the tabloids get to make with the puns.
"OH NUTS!" bleats the Daily News. "Talk about a nutcracker $weet!" the Post giggles. ("Cahone-nos," Gothamist groins groans.) Yesterday the state agreed to settle with Stephen Lewis (not Steve Lewis), who was serving his second stint in state prison on Staten Island for drug dealing when he was sexually assaulted by C.O. Terrence Borroughs in 2007, as three other female C.O.s laughed and egged Borroughs on. The assault happened after Lewis reported that he was missing his ID card, and when Borroughs asked him were he lost it, Lewis replied that if he knew the answer, it wouldn't be lost.
Borroughs became enraged, called Lewis a "punk ass," and ordered him up against the wall for a frisk. "His hand went into my drawers and he squeezed my penis and testicles," Lewis says. "I said, 'What are you doing?' and he squeezed me one more time. It felt like maybe you got hit with a baseball or maybe a baseball bat." The pain was so intense that Lewis defecated. The jury ruled in his favor, and yesterday federal Judge John Gleeson approved the settlement, while upbraiding correction officials for failing to investigate complaints filed by inmates against guards.
"Unless an officer admits to assaulting an inmate, which of course never happens, an allegation of assault is found to be unsubstantiated and ...it appears to me that most of the time no one even bothers to interview the complaining inmate, the complained-about officer or any witnesses...The trial's made it clear that there are systemic problems in the management of Arthur Kill facility," Judge Gleeson said. Speaking to the Post, Lewis said, "What happened to me was tragic. It shouldn't happen to anyone, but it goes on every day. I'm glad that the people know what goes on behind the razor wire. The little guy finally won his day in court."
