The women have filed two claims against the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, former prison officer David Lowe, and unnamed jail officials in Jeffersonville.
After a guard sold a male inmate a key to the women’s wing, a group of 28 women claim they were regularly attacked and raped in a southern Indiana jail.
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 guys entered the women’s wing using the keys Lowe had given them, hiding their faces so they couldn’t 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 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 program “60 Days In,” in which volunteers pose 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.
Two males entered at about 11:30 p.m. and threatened to kill the women if they tried to contact the jail officials for assistance.
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 case stated that “[the female inmates] suffered horrendous physical and psychological traumas as a direct and proximate consequences of the actions of Defendants.”
‘Amazingly, even though there were video cameras placed in areas that showed the male detainees accessing the woman’s Pods,’ the second claim states in part.
“Even though the incident involved numerous male inmates 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 officials losing their “dark” powers so that “lights stayed on in the female pods for the next 72 hours” after the attack had finally halted.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, the Clark County Sheriff’s office defended itself, claiming that the incident was “the result of the unforseeable illegal activities of a rogue prison officer.”
By giving inmates access to the jail keys, “the individual in issue chose to forsake his training, ethics, and morality and took the unilateral decision to mortgage his job and future.”
The “rogue cop,” Lowe, has been charged with helping 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, stated that the majority of them have since been let out of jail.
Betteau remarked, “I believe that there is footage because there usually 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 anticipate that there will be proof.
“We want changes implemented first and foremost.
“This is dreadful beyond words.
When you speak to the women, you can sense how awful it is.
They were in a secure area when male prisoners barged in and did whatever they pleased, including raping women, for a couple of hours.
There are buttons inside the entrance 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 just supposed to perform the routine correctional 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 program 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.
When DailyMail.com called the Clark County Sheriff’s department for comment, they did not give an instant response.