A woman who was incarcerated at Philadelphia’s Federal Detention Center has sued a correctional officer who she says raped her while she was isolated in a cell and under suicide watch.
The lawsuit, filed this week in federal court in Philadelphia, alleges that Michael Jefferson unlocked the woman’s cell early on July 6, 2024, as she slept. She awoke, the lawsuit said, as Jefferson pinned her down and sexually assaulted her while she pleaded for him to stop.
The woman, identified in the lawsuit only as Jane Doe, is also suing the United States, contending that the Bureau of Prisons failed to protect her from Jefferson’s abuse. Another officer was also either absent from his post or ignored signs of the assault, the lawsuit said.
Jefferson was charged earlier this year with crimes including aggravated sexual abuse and deprivation of rights under color of law. That case is scheduled for trial in January.
He has pleaded not guilty. His attorney, Lonny Fish, did not immediately respond to a phone call Tuesday afternoon.
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Jaehyun Oh, a lawyer for the woman, called the assault “a senseless and gruesome rape at the hands of a federal officer who was entrusted with safeguarding and protecting her.”
After the assault, the lawsuit said, a medical exam showed that the woman suffered from injuries and bruising that confirmed a sexual assault and indicated “the violence of the rape.”
In the suicide-watch cell, the woman should have been under increased supervision, Oh said, because of her “highly vulnerable state, psychologically.” Since the attack, the woman has suffered from flashbacks and was diagnosed with major depressive disorder, the filing said.
“We are hoping this case sheds light not just on the rape itself, but the fact that the United States needs to do better and can do better for women in its custody,” Oh said.
In a letter responding to the lawsuit’s claims, the Bureau of Prisons “unilaterally denied” the woman’s claims, according to the lawsuit.