A trans-identified male is suing the City of New York after he was placed in a men’s detention center while awaiting transfer to another state on charges related to domestic violence. Ali Miles, formerly known as Dylan Miles, is demanding over $22,000,000 in compensation for discrimination on the basis of his gender identity.
Miles, who identifies as a Muslim woman, was incarcerated at the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island from June to July of 2022. His custody was a holding prior to his transfer to another state, as he had warrants for his arrest in the state of Arizona. He was then transferred to Yavapai County Jail where he was ultimately tried and found guilty of two counts of aggravated harassment per domestic violence, a Class 5 felony, for instances dated in November 2021 and February 2022.
He was also found guilty of disorderly conduct, harassment, threatening or intimidating, and false reporting to a law enforcement agency, which are all Class 1 misdemeanors.
In October of 2022, he was placed on supervised probation for a period of three years and sentenced to 312 days in jail, with credit added for the 132 days he had already been held there. Miles was also subject to a domestic violence assessment.
But Miles is now taking to the court to sue to the City of New York for detaining him with other males while he was awaiting transfer to Arizona. The suit argues that Miles faced discrimination, assault, and human rights violations after being placed with men.
In addition to the City of New York, other defendants listed on the suit are the Department of Corrections Rikers Island, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation, and multiple individuals whose identities have been anonymized.
While asserting that he “wears women’s clothing and in all appearance expresses as a person of the female gender,” the filing argues that Miles was housed in a male facility at Rikers despite allegedly having a court order directing his placement to the female unit.
The suit reveals that following his arrest, Miles informed a judge that he was transgender, and required special housing accommodations to which a judge reportedly agreed. The court file and orders were then marked to notify the prison and their Intake Personnel that Miles was to be housed in the female section of Rikers, but he was not.
“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 continues that he was routinely harassed, “misgendered” and subjected to humiliation during his detention at the George R. Vierno Center. In particular, Miles emphasizes his “sexual victimization” by multiple “African American male” inmates as a result of his placement in a male facility, one of which he alleges sodomized him using butter as lubricant.
Miles is seeking a minimum of $22,000,000 in compensation for the various mistreatments he claims, arguing that the prison’s “unlawful conduct was a direct result of Rikers’ pervasive practices, and customs of discrimination, deliberate indifference, against transgender people.”
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.
In the suit, Miles alleged that the personnel at Chelsea Yoga “deprived [him] of his civil rights because he is gay, undergoing a gender transition, and because Miles does not conform to … gender-based preferences, expectations, or stereotypes about how a man/woman should dress and conduct himself/herself.”
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.
In February of 2022, Miles filed a civil action for $75,000 in compensation against Sedona Soul Adventures, an Arizona-based business he had previously worked for. Miles alleged that the tourism company had wrongfully terminated his employment shortly after he was hired after subjecting him to “gender identity-based harassment and discrimination.” The suit was dismissed after an out-of-court agreement was reached.
One month later, Miles filed two separate civil actions — one against Planet Fitness and one against Bagel Point, both, again, on the basis of “gender identity-based harassment and discrimination.” In both, Miles represented himself, and failed to use consistent pronouns, often calling himself “Mr. Miles.”
In his poorly-written civil action, Miles alleged that staff at a Planet Fitness threatened to sound the “lunk alarm” on him for entering the women’s facilities, and used a slur when referring to him. The “lunk alarm” is a fixture seen at most Planet Fitness gyms intended to provide a humorous “warning” to those being too loud or obnoxious in the gym.
Miles demanded compensation of $10,000,000 from Planet Fitness, but the suit was ultimately dismissed after he failed to file the appropriate paperwork and pay $402 in filing fees as requested by the court.
In his action against Bagel Point, a cafe in Brooklyn, Miles sought $75,000 in damages alleging he had been wrongfully terminated and subjected to verbal abuse on the basis of his gender identity.
Miles had been an employee of Bagel Point for a short period of time, during which he claimed the owner, a Muslim woman, had referred to him using slurs and mocked his gender identity, as well as crafting “unsubstantiated” complaints about his performance. The action, which was poorly written and rife with spelling errors, was dismissed by the court once again after Miles failed to file the appropriate paperwork and pay $402 in filing fees.
In yet another suit, Miles sought compensation from New York Presbyterian Hospital, once again claiming to have faced discrimination on the basis of his gender identity. The suit was dismissed and an appeal was not filed.
While Miles’ past cases were quickly snuffed out of the court system, his most recent suit against the City of New York appears to be proceeding. Having previously represented himself unsuccessfully, Miles has retained an attorney for this suit who has requested the case be referred to the court’s Alternative Dispute Resolution Program (ADR). The ADR is an alternative mediation-style arrangement targeted at speeding up settlement.
On January 10, the lawyers for the City of New York requested a time extension to review the details of the case, with the next hearing being set for February 22.