A longtime Rikers Island correctional officer needed six stitches to close a gaping wound above her eye Friday after she was punched in the face by a violent inmate at the city's notorious city jail.
The 47-year-old woman, who asked to remain anonymous as she is not authorized to speak publicly, told the Post she was fed up with being released by Scotland from island imprisonment and wanted to reinstate the cell from which she was recently dismissed. He said he is asking the city to do so. .
“They attack us and then immediately return to the same residential area,” said the officer, who has spent 10 years on the job.
“They brag about this,” she added. “They say, ‘I just assaulted a police officer and nothing will happen to me.’ They used to be segregated.”
The officer said he was on duty Friday afternoon when he witnessed inmate Rosita Sanders, who is 5 feet 10 inches tall and oversized and weighs 200 pounds, punch another inmate.
The much smaller officer, who is 5 feet 4 inches tall, was reporting an assault when Sanders allegedly snuck up behind her and clocked the side of her face.
A police officer who has a 12-year-old son said: “He was in shock after the blow.''
The officer reportedly asked the inmate, “Why did you hit me?”
Sanders' rap sheet includes two assault charges from earlier this month, but he only responded by saying, “Spray me!” Pepper spray carried by police officers.
Blood poured down the officer's face as he grabbed a piece of white paper and pressed it against the wound.
“There was blood everywhere,” she recalled. “I put a piece of paper on the side of my face and headed straight to the clinic.”
According to court records, Mr. Sanders is awaiting trial on the alleged attack from early November at Rikers. According to reports, she was rearrested and charged with second-degree assault and other charges for allegedly jumping on an unsuspecting police officer. prison officer union.
But “that doesn't matter,” the officer said. “She's already in jail for assault.''
Days before the violent encounter, the serial assaulter had attacked another inmate and was soon released back into the general population, officers told the Post.
The officer said he wants the city to reinstate solitary confinement or come up with new punishments for inmates who actively abuse correctional officers.
According to the union, there have been more than 450 assaults on correctional officers since the city council banned solitary confinement in December 2023.
“Prison operations were a little better before (when there was segregation),” she said.
“They need to come up with some kind of system that holds them accountable for their actions. You can't just keep hitting people and go unpunished.”
Benny Bossio, president of the Correctional Officers Benevolent Association, blamed the left-wing City Council for causing the problem.
“This unprovoked assault on a police officer who was simply doing his job shows how the City Council's reckless bill, which protects violent criminals but puts the safety of police officers at risk, has failed everyone in prison. “This is yet another stark reminder,” he said. Bossio.
Just last month, a suspected pervert incarcerated at Rikers groped City Council member Sandy Nurse during a tour of the troubled prison.
“City members who voted for putative desegregation should take a close look at past election results and recognize that a growing number of New Yorkers are rejecting anti-crime policies,” Bossio said.
Meanwhile, the police officer remains at home, taking care of himself and his son.
“My son was like, 'Mom, what happened?'” Are you okay? ' she recalled. “He's a little traumatized.”
