NEW YORK CITY — A Department of Correction officer was charged Friday for raping a female inmate on Rikers Island, authorities said.
Brooklyn resident Jose Cosme, 36, was charged with using forcible compulsion — defined as using physical force or the threat of physical force — to make an inmate have sex with him in Rikers Island's Rose M. Singer Center on Nov. 30, 2015, the Bronx District Attorney's office said.
“We will prosecute any jail employee who undermines the public’s trust and tarnishes the honest, hardworking members of the Department of Correction,” DA Darcel Clark said.
“Correction Officers or any other staff in Rikers Island cannot use their position to abuse inmates.”
Inmates are not capable of giving legal consent under New York penal law.
Cosme was arraigned in Bronx Supreme Court, where he was charged with two counts of rape, two counts of criminal sexual act, three counts of sexual abuse and one count of sexual misconduct.
Cosme, who faces 50 years in prison if convicted, had his bail set at $75,000. His next court date scheduled for Sept. 20, according to the DA.
Cosme’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
