Man Who Identifies As A Muslim Woman Sues City Of New York After Being Incarcerated With Men While Awaiting Trial On Domestic Abuse Charges
A transgender man is suing the City of New York for placing him in a men’s detention center while he awaited transfer to another state on domestic abuse-related charges. Ali Miles, formerly Dylan Miles, is requesting more than $22,000,000 in damages for discrimination against him due to his gender identity.
Miles, men who identifies as Muslim woman, spent June and July of 2022 detained at the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island. Because he had outstanding arrest warrants in the state of Arizona, he was being held in custody before being transferred to another state. After that, he was moved to Yavapai County Jail, where he was tried and convicted of two Class 5 felonies, aggravated harassment per domestic violence, for incidents that occurred in November 2021 and February 2022.
In addition, he was found guilty of four Class 1 misdemeanors: disorderly conduct, harassment, threatening or intimidating, and false reporting to a law enforcement agency. He was sentenced to 312 days in prison in October 2022, with credit given for the 132 days he had already spent there, and placed on supervised probation for a three-year term. Additionally, Miles underwent a domestic violence assessment. But now that he is waiting to be transferred to Arizona, Miles is suing the City of New York in court for imprisoning him alongside other men. The lawsuit claims that after being paired with men, Miles experienced harassment, violence, and violations of her human rights.
Apart from the City of New York, the suit names the Department of Corrections at Rikers Island, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, and several anonymous individuals as defendants.Apart from the City of New York, the suit names the Department of Corrections at Rikers Island, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, and several anonymous individuals as defendants.
The filing contends that Miles was kept in a male facility at Rikers despite purportedly having a court order directing his placement to the female unit, despite the fact that he “wears women’s clothing and in all appearance expresses as a person of the female gender.”
According to the lawsuit, Miles told the judge that he was transgender and needed special housing accommodations after being arrested, and the judge allegedly granted his request. Miles was supposed to be housed in the female section of Rikers, but the court file and orders were marked to alert the prison and their Intake Personnel to this fact.
“As Miles approached the inside of the building, Miles realized it was a male jail which caused shock, panic and fright to Miles,” the suit reads, referring to Miles using feminine pronouns. “Miles requested and pleaded … that as an LGBTQIA+ individual who was transgendered, she required and needed an accommodation, and that she should not be placed in a male population jail.”
Miles then alleges that a prison staff member said “we don’t do the trans thing here.” He was then strip-searched by a male guard he alleges told him that he had “nice tits” and “one hell of a pussy.” This is despite Miles not having had any known genital surgeries.
Miles goes on to say that while he was being held at the George R. Vierno Center, he was frequently harassed, “misgendered,” and humiliated. Specifically, Miles highlights how being housed in a male facility led to his “sexual victimization” by several “African American male” inmates, one of whom he claims used butter as lubricant to sodomize him.
Miles contends that the jail’s “illegal conduct was a direct result of Rikers’ pervasive practices, and customs of discrimination, deliberate indifference, against transgender people,” and he is requesting at least $22,000,000 in compensation for the various mistreatments he claims he suffered. Miles is a prolific litigant, and, as previously reported by Reduxx, has filed a number of suits alleging discrimination by various businesses.
In May of 2023, Miles filed a lawsuit against a New York yoga studio seeking compensation of $5,000,000 after employees reportedly asked him to use the men’s restroom instead of the women’s. Because Miles is gay, undergoing a gender transition, and because he defies gender-based expectations, stereotypes, and preferences regarding how a man or woman should behave and dress, he claimed in his lawsuit that the staff at Chelsea Yoga “deprived [him] of his civil rights.” But shortly after that suit was launched, Reduxx learned that Miles had filed at least four other lawsuits, making similar claims of victimization in each.
Miles filed a civil lawsuit in February 2022 seeking $75,000 in damages from Sedona Soul Adventures, an Arizona-based company he had previously worked for. Miles claimed that he had experienced “gender identity-based harassment and discrimination” from the tourism company, which had wrongfully fired him not long after he was hired. Following the conclusion of an out-of-court settlement, the lawsuit was dismissed.
After a month, Miles filed two distinct civil lawsuits, one against Planet Fitness and the other against Bagel Point, alleging “gender identity-based harassment and discrimination” in both cases. Miles referred to himself as “Mr. Miles” in both instances and neglected to use consistent pronouns. Miles claimed in his shoddy civil lawsuit that employees at a Planet Fitness had called him names and threatened to sound the “lunk alarm” if he entered the women’s facilities. Most Planet Fitness facilities have a feature called the “lunk alarm,” which is meant to give a lighthearted “warning” to anyone who is being too loud or bothersome while in the gym. Miles filed a lawsuit against Planet Fitness, demanding $10,000,000 in compensation. However, the lawsuit was eventually dismissed because Miles neglected to submit the required paperwork and pay the $402 filing fee that the court required.
In his lawsuit against Brooklyn’s Bagel Point Cafe, Miles claimed he had been verbally abused and fired unfairly because of his gender identity. He also sought $75,000 in damages.
Miles claimed that during his brief tenure at Bagel Point, the business’s Muslim owner had made derogatory remarks about him, made fun of his gender identity, and written “unsubstantiated” complaints regarding his work. Once again, the court dismissed the poorly written and profusely misspelled action because Miles neglected to submit the required paperwork and pay the $402 filing fees.
Miles sued New York Presbyterian Hospital once more, claiming to have been discriminated against because of his gender identity. This time, he was seeking compensation. An appeal was not filed, and the lawsuit was dismissed. Miles appears to have converted to Islam around the same time, though it’s unclear when he started identifying as a woman. He has made references to studying Arabic and adhering to different Islamic teachings on his social media pages.
Miles’ previous legal cases were swiftly dismissed from the system, but it seems that his most recent lawsuit against the City of New York is still pending. Miles has hired an attorney for this lawsuit after trying and failing to represent himself in the past. The lawyer has asked that the case be sent to the court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program (ADR). ADR is an alternative form of mediation designed to expedite settlement. The City of New York’s attorneys asked for an extension of time on January 10 in order to examine the case’s specifics; the next hearing is scheduled for February 22.
