A female inmate told police she was brutally gang-raped by three men who entered her jail cell in Kansas City, Mo., with a stolen master key early Friday, according to a local report.
The woman said the suspects took turns raping her while a second victim said a man entered her cell at the Jackson County Regional Correctional Center and fondled her during the 4 a.m. assault.
The second woman said the lone inmate also punched and choked her, but he bolted after hearing a guard open a nearby door followed by a warning whistle.
“I heard the door being opened to the cell and when I turned around, or tried to turn around, the guy was in the bed with me,” she told WDAF-TV, adding that he locked her cell with a key.
She initially thought the man was a guard, she told investigators.
A police report states three men were captured on surveillance footage wandering out of their cell, the Kansas City Star reported. No suspects were immediately identified.
The second victim said she tried reporting the harrowing attack to correction staff walking by the cell, but she told WDAF-TV nobody would listen to her and nearly 24 hours passed before she received medical treatment.
“I was so upset, I started cussing the guards,” she added. “That’s the only way I got their attention, finally.”
The shocking attacks prompted Kansas City officials to release and transfer nearly two dozen female inmates out of the facility pending an independent investigation by former U.S. District Attorney Todd Graves.
No women would be housed at the jail until Jackson County officials determine how to prevent further sexual assaults at the jail, City Manager Troy Schulte announced.
A statement from Jackson County officials said no employees were involved with the assaults, but the Star reports one staff member was suspended without pay pending the probe.
Mayor Sly James pledged that “those responsible will be held accountable and all other necessary changes will be made swiftly.”
The two victims received medical treatment and were released early.
By the time police arrived to interview both women, investigators learned jail staff had cleaned the first victim’s jail cell because it was smeared in feces, the paper wrote, citing a police report.
Her clothes were also destroyed because they had been ripped.