Rikers Island Employee Accused of Trading Chicken and Cigarettes for Sex With Inmates

A medical staffer at New York City's Rikers Island jail is accused of using fried chicken, cigarettes, medicine, and other items from the outside to get several female inmates to have sex with him, according to the New York Post, which reported on a new lawsuit filed against the physician assistant by those same women.

The former Rikers inmates say Clinic employee Sidney Wilson gave them gifts of Popeye's chicken, candy, gum, cigarettes, sex toys, and deposits into their inmate spending accounts. Wilson also agreed to prescribe the inmates with drugs they either needed or wanted in exchange for sexual favors.

The women, even if they were willing, legally were not able to consent to having sex with jail employees, who are in a position of power over inmates, according to New York law.

The Intercept first reported on the alleged abuse late last year. Reporter Erika Eichelberger wrote that for one of the women, the abuse began during a medical evaluation when she asked Wilson to prescribe her a medicated cream to put on her lips. The steroid cream is for treating skin conditions like eczema, but Rikers inmates use it as a lipstick substitute.