Transgender woman sues New York City for putting her in a male prison on Rikers Island

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A transgender woman is suing the City of New York for $22 million after she was placed in a Rikers Island male detention center, where she was allegedly assaulted and harassed.

Ali Miles, who goes by Dylan, was held at Rikers Island from June 14, 2022, to July of the same year. She was later transferred to Arizona.

Miles was charged with a slew of crimes in June 2022, including felony-level stalking, making a false report of a crime and aggravated harassment.

Miles is suing the New York City Department of Correction, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation and a handful of individuals for the treatment she received in the prison, which allegedly included rape, physical assault and harassment.

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The Rikers Island jail complex stands with the Manhattan skyline in the background, in New York City.  (AP Photo/File)

The lawsuit references the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) of 2003, which seeks to mitigate and eradicate rape incidents in correctional facilities.

The lawsuit document, which was filed in August 2023 and obtained by Fox News Digital on Saturday, establishes that Miles was born a biological man, but identifies as a transgender woman.

“Miles wears women’s clothing and in all appearance expresses as a person of the female gender,” the lawsuit states.

According to the lawsuit, Miles was “placed in a men’s housing unit despite her objections, court orders, and her requests to be housed with women.” Miles’ attorney also claims that the defendants “delayed and denied her access to healthcare.”

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New York City Department of Correction officer at Rikers Island.  (James Keivom/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images/File)

“[Miles] was raped/sodomized on two (2) separate occasions by the same male inmate, was assaulted and battered by the same male assailant causing fractured ribs, and suffered permanent blindness as the result of being doused in the face with chemicals,” the document says. “All of this caused her painful and longlasting harm.

“Defendants’ unlawful conduct was a direct result of [Rikers’] pervasive, practices, and customs of discrimination, deliberate indifference, against transgender people.”

Miles’ lawyer also argued that New York authorities “ignored her repeated pleas for help and for protection from the threats and sexual victimization to which they had exposed her.”

Aerial view of Rikers Island. (Photo by Todd Maisel/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)

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According to the lawsuit, a corrections officer told Miles that “We don’t do the trans thing here” — which the lawsuit argues is a violation of civil rights law.

Fox News Digital reached out to the New York City Department of Correction and the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation for comment.

Andrea Vacchiano is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. You can follow her on X at @andrea_vacch or send story tips to andrea.vacchiano@fox.com.