Inmate Charged After Same-Day Attempted Rape Of Jail Nurse, Groping Of Correction Officer

An inmate at Rikers Island is faced with multiple charges after he allegedly tried to rape a jail nurse and forcibly touched a female correction officer on the same day in November.

Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said 56-year-old Michael Cleaver, an inmate at the Eric M. Taylor Center, was charged with forcible touching, unlawful imprisonment, sexual abuse, and attempted rape during his Monday arraignment, WPIX reported.

The incident happened on Nov. 12. Clark said that “the defendant allegedly forcibly touched a female correction officer” and hours later, “the defendant allegedly attempted to rape a nurse assigned to the facility.”

According to the district attorney, Cleaver allegedly groped a 39-year-old correction officer in the afternoon, and hours later, he allegedly forced a 51-year-old jail nurse into a room in the facility and placed the nurse in a bearhug. The inmate then pushed the nurse onto the ground and tried to rape her.

Prosecutors revealed that Cleaver pulled the nurse’s clothes down, but she screamed for help. Another inmate rushed to the nurse’s help and broke down the lock of the room where Cleaver and the victim were, New York Post reported. The rescuing inmate then punched the 210-pound suspect repeatedly.

Records showed that Cleaver committed the heinous crimes against the correction facility workers three days after he was arrested for burglary charges in Brooklyn, the New York Daily News reported. Cleaver was convicted in 2021 for a 2019 burglary case and was on probation when he was arrested in Brooklyn.

The latest prison nurse attack came just a month after a nurse was attacked by an inmate at the High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs, California. At that time, the nurse was attacked using a homemade weapon, the Nevada Department of Corrections was cited as saying by KVVU-TV. The nurse suffered “superficial wounds” to the neck and chest as a result of the attack, while the inmate was moved to another facility.

Earlier last year, a nurse and a correction officer were killed after an inmate, Thomas Woodard, attacked staff members and other prisoners at the Anamosa State Penitentiary in Iowa, NBC News reported.

In August, Woodard admitted that he struck correctional officer Robert McFarland and nurse Lorena Schulte multiple times using a hammer, KWWL reported. Woodard previously pled not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree kidnapping and attempted murder.