A regular visit to her husband in jail turned into a nightmare for 26-year-old Jeannette Reynoso. The Bronx woman claimed that she was strip searched during her visit to Rikers Island last month and then violated by two female correction officers.
“I’m very scared that they did that and I’m afraid that they would do that to me again … or do it to anybody,” Reynoso said.
She said she had already cleared two metal detectors with no problem.
“They told me to take off my clothes,” Reynoso said. "One correction officer took off my bra and my shirt first. Then she told me turn around to the wall and took off my pants and panties.”
In a civil lawsuit just filed, Reynoso claims the officers threatened to pull her visits for 45 days if she didn’t agree to take off her clothes.
"I started asking questions like, 'Why do I have to take off all my clothes?' They said, 'You’re not here to ask questions. You just got to do what you’re asked to do,'" Reynoso said.
"I was shaking and that’s when I felt the other officer," she said. "She was like down on her knees and that’s when I felt her penetrate me. I turned around, crying, saying, 'What are you doing? Why are you doing this to me?'"
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Reynoso says one of the officers then hugged her, and asked a question.
"One of the officers wanted to know when and where I got my plastic surgery," she said.
The Bronx District Attorney’s office, which covers Rikers, is looking into the case. Reynoso’s attorney Alan Figman said the treatment his client endured amounts to detaining someone illegally.
"I think it’s outrageous," Figman said. "I think that this woman is damaged for the rest of her life."
The Department of Correction has a zero tolerance policy with regard to the mistreatment of visitors.
The union that represents correction officers did not return the I-Team's request for comment.
