The City of New York has agreed to pay out a $350,000 settlement to a man who identifies as a Muslim woman for keeping him in the men’s section of Rikers Island while he was awaiting trial on domestic violence charges. Ali Miles, formerly known as Dylan Miles, had initially demanded over $22,000,000 in compensation.
As previously reported by Reduxx, Miles was incarcerated at the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island from June to July of 2022. He had been arrested on a warrant out of Arizona.
Following his brief detention on Rikers Island, he was transferred back to Arizona and placed in Yavapai County Jail. 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 in August of 2023, Miles filed a lawsuit against the City of New York, seeking damages related to “gender identity discrimination” for having been detained in the men’s section of Rikers Island. The suit argued that Miles had informed the court that he was transgender and required special detention accommodations.
The judge had reportedly agreed, and orders were then marked to notify the prison and Intake Personnel that Miles was to be housed at the female-only Rose M. Singer facility on Riskers Island, but he was not.
Miles claimed that he suffered discrimination, including being subjected to “transphobic” remarks from prison staff, while incarcerated in the men’s facility. He also claimed to have been the victim of sexual assaults, in particular emphasizing his “sexual victimization” by multiple “African American male” inmates.
Miles alleged that a prison staff member said “we don’t do the trans thing here” after he demanded to be moved to the women’s section. He was then strip-searched by a male guard he alleged told him that he had “nice tits” and “one hell of a pussy.” This is despite Miles not having had any known genital surgeries.
While the City of New York rejected and refuted Miles’ claims, on June 21, they offered to settle the case for $350,000.
The settlement agreement stipulated that they were not admitting guilt in the situation, and that Miles would no longer be able to take legal action against them for this matter in the future.
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 transphobic 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 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.
