A transgender Rikers Island inmate with previous arrests for assault raped a female prisoner after she finished showering in the women’s section of the violence-plagued New York City facility.
Ramel Blount, 33, who goes by the name Diamond Blount, pleaded guilty to the sexual attack in a deal on April 7, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office announced Monday.
The 33-year-old victim, whose name was not released, had just finished showering when Blount approached her from behind, held her down by the back of her neck and raped her at the Rose M. Singer center on February 8, 2021.
The victim reported the incident to jail officials, and a rape kit was administered, which matched Blount’s DNA in the New York State Registry.
Blount received a seven-year prison sentence with an additional eight years of post-release supervision.
‘Sexual violence against anyone is unacceptable,’ Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement.
Officials did not say why Blount was being housed in the female section of the facility after being arrested for a misdemeanor assault in 2018, according to reports.
Published reports also show Blount was arrested for another assault near a gay bar in Greenwich Village in 2012.
Along with the prison sentence from the most recent plea deal, Blount was also required to register as a sex offender. A full order of protection was also issued.
Blount was back in Rikers after violating parole following convictions in 2018 on second-degree robbery, second-degree attempted robbery, and misdemeanor assault, according to the Bronx District Attorney’s office.
Rikers Island, which houses more than 5,000 inmates, has been plagued with escalating violence, detainee deaths and widespread staff absences.
Last week Mayor Eric Adams pleaded with New Yorkers on helping him to fix the troubled prison. ‘Give me a chance. We have witnessed how others have failed, now give me a chance. Let’s work together,’ he said in part.
His appeal came a day after Manhattan US Attorney, Damian Williams, made the threat in a letter to a federal judge requesting the Department of Correction be taken over by an independent body if the agency doesn’t improve conditions at the city-run jail, The New York Post reported.
Earlier this year, Adams had appointed Louis Molina, as the new Department of Correction’s Commissioner to help fix the beleaguered jail complex.
Molina, who has only been in his position for a few months, described the crisis taking place at Riker’s as a ‘systemic failure,’ CBS News reported.
