“A kitchen worker at a state juvenile detention facility who was raped, beaten and kidnapped by a 16-year-old inmate in 2004 was denied a captivity benefit for union members because she was not held hostage long enough. The woman escaped from her captor after a six-hour ride at knifepoint around Albany County on Dec. 28, 2004. The union’s insurance policy covers only victims held captive for eight hours or more… ‘I feel like I’m being raped all over again,’ said the woman, now 52… As her work shift in the kitchen was ending, Michael Elston of Buffalo choked her with her scarf, banged her head against a cinder block wall, held a 12-inch knife to her throat and raped her. He then forced her into her car and drove around the county before she escaped. Elston pleaded guilty to the rape and kidnapping, which occurred two days after the woman had confiscated his notebook containing gang-related writing and his desire to have sex with her… The woman received $2,000 in hospital benefits and $8,000 when the captivity waiver was denied. She also is getting workers’ compensation payments. Had the waiver been granted, she said, she could have received between and $40,000 and $100,000… The woman vowed to continue her fight. ‘This ordeal went on for 50 miles, both inside and outside this facility, at times within several feet of the youth detention aides and other residents and nobody came to my aid,’ she said. ‘I will not let this horrible night be covered up.’” — Albany Times Union (US)

All this occurred at a place in the Catskills called Camp Cass. Apparently the JD facility’s greatest claim to fame prior to this incident was the fact that it once harbored Joe Dallesandro, “the naked guy in all those Andy Warhol movies.” The camp allowed him to escape too.

Most people can surely sympathize with the rape victim’s plaint in this story. Who hasn’t wanted to go postal on an insurance company after being denied a reasonable claim for some small-print technicality? It hardly seems fair to deny her a benefit just because she had the pluck to escape from her captor a few hours ahead of the contractually agreed amount of time. What was she supposed to do, risk her life for a few more hours? Couldn’t they at least give her the lesser amount of the payout?

Then again, you have to see the insurer’s standpoint too. If they pay this woman, it practically sets a precedent. The next time any state worker feels a little broke, why, all she has to do is let herself be raped for six hours and bingo! she gets a cool hundred grand. You don’t want insurance companies encouraging women to get raped by paying them for it, now do you?

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