26 women claim they were sexually assaulted and 2 women claim they were raped by incarcerated men who allegedly bribed an Indiana prison official for keys to their cells

One woman in the first case claimed she was raped during the incident, and another woman in the second case also claimed she was raped. However, no charges have been filed over the allegations, according to William Perry McCall, an attorney who filed the first lawsuit in June on behalf of 20 women. Attorneys in both cases told CNN that the women are not speaking publicly about their allegations, citing reasons such as emotional distress and to protect their identities.

Both cases say the women suffered physical, emotional and psychological harm in violation of their constitutional rights.

The July 25 lawsuit accuses Noel of failing to adequately staff the jail, train jail officials and monitor them to make sure they “maintain adequate security at the jail.” It added that “these systemic errors allowed multiple male assailants to roam freely around the prison for several hours, leading to a night of terror for the plaintiffs and other victims.”

Noel declined to comment on the lawsuits, noting that the litigation is pending. However, in a statement to CNN, Noel’s attorney, Larry Wilder, said: “The events of October 23rd were the result of the unforeseeable criminal actions of a rogue prison official. The man in question chose to forgo his training, ethics and morals and made the unilateral decision to mortgage his career and future by allowing inmates to have access to the prison keys.”

Wilder said the sheriff is “committed to making sure nothing of this scale or scope ever happens again,” but he is “also committed to debunking these untruths that have been alleged by those trying to extract financial gain from David Lowe’s crimes.”

Prison officials began an investigation “immediately” after learning of the events, Wilder said, which included reviewing security footage and taped interviews with corrections officers, male inmates and “over 40” female inmates.

As a result of the investigation, Wilder said, the sheriff’s department is making “immediate changes to the physical structure of the jail as well as a review of procedure and practices.”

Lowe was taken into custody Oct. 25 on charges of criminal mischief and aiding, abetting or causing escape, according to court documents. He is currently out of jail on bond and awaiting his criminal trial in November, according to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. Lowe has yet to take a plea deal.

CNN’s attempts to reach Lowe for a statement in response to the allegations were unsuccessful, and his attorney could not be identified.

Lowe claimed in his statement to the Post that he made a mistake that ultimately allowed the men to steal the keys and that it was an accident that resulted from overwork. He also told the newspaper that he only found out about the attack in the days after it happened because he was working in another part of the prison.

The attacks lasted several hours, the suit says

Events began to unfold “on the night of October 23 and into the early morning hours of October 24,” when two inmates used keys provided by Lowe to enter each of the pods in the facility where the women were held. accommodated, according to Jul.

The men threatened the women, including threats to kill them if they “pressed the button” to call police, according to the first lawsuit filed in June. They then left the pods and returned with several other male inmates who were wearing towels and blankets covering their heads and faces, according to the lawsuit.

Over the course of several hours, “at least two of the female inmates were raped,” the lawsuit says.

Additionally, according to the suit, the men “grabbed and groped” the women, exposing their genitalia to the women and making sexual and threatening statements. ​”Several hours” after the attack, one of the women pressed the emergency button and began screaming to call correctional officers, at which point the men left the pod, the lawsuit said.

A corrections officer who opened the door and turned on the lights notified the women that they had lost their “dark” privileges, meaning the lights remained on in the women’s area for the next 72 hours, the lawsuit said. Additionally, the women were locked up for the next few days and taken to holding cells to be questioned. Several days later, the lawsuit alleges, correctional officers removed the women’s personal items, such as razors, pillows and blankets.

The lawsuit, filed July 25 by different attorneys on behalf of eight unnamed women incarcerated at the same jail, alleges that Lowe gave the male detainees keys to the interior of the jail, where they had access to multiple restricted areas , in exchange for $1,000.

The women suffered “significant emotional and physical harm, including but not limited to nightmares, bleeding, vaginal lacerations and genital herpes,” the lawsuit said.

Women are left in a “constant state of fear”, says lawyer

In a statement to CNN, Wagner said prison officials retaliated against the women after they were allegedly assaulted. He also said the missing keys to their pods were still unaccounted for in the days after the incident, leaving the women “in a constant state of fear that the male prisoners would return in the following nights”.

“In this environment, given the threats of the attackers and the complete lack of sympathy – or protection – from prison officials, the women were understandably initially silent about what happened. They were afraid for their lives,” Wagner said. He says the women decided to report the incident after being encouraged by their family and friends.

Wilder said in his statement that interviews sheriff’s detectives conducted with women in custody at the jail as part of the investigation, following Lowe’s arrest, “provided information that directly contradicts the allegations made in the civil case.”