Trans-Identified Male Charged With Child Rape Is Being Held At Women’s Prison While Awaiting Trial

A trans-identified male is being held in a women’s prison while awaiting trial for the rape of a 14 year-old boy. Nicolas Rivera Suarez, 30, is currently detained in the Rose M. Singer center, a female prison located in New York’s Rikers Island.

Suarez was arrested in February after he allegedly followed a young boy into a bathroom in Thomas Jefferson Park, where he proceeded to rape the child. After the assault, the victim sought out witnesses, who then alerted the police.

Originally from Colombia, Suarez was wanted in New Jersey and Massachusetts at the time, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had a detainer on him, as reported by The New York Post. However, the exact charges against Suarez have not been made publicly available.

Prior to being arrested, Suarez was an active member of New York City’s LGBT community, and had previously been photographed performing at NYC Pride 2024.

Suarez’s first appearance in court took place on July 10. Reporting on his arraignment, The Daily Mail noted that Suarez “scowled” as he was led into the courtroom. His attorney requested additional time to file her motions, but presiding Judge Michele Rodney declined the request.

Despite being male, The Daily Mail reported on Suarez’s upcoming trial by referring to him as though he were female, prompting outcry online from critics. Suarez’s next court date is scheduled for August 5, with the trial set for September.

While awaiting his hearing, Suarez is being held in women’s facility Rose M. Singer Center, due to New York’s policy of housing violent inmates according to a self-declared “gender identity” rather than biological sex.

In 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an order directing all public schools, recreation centers and other city buildings that have single-sex bathrooms and locker rooms to let people use the bathrooms of the gender with which they identify. The Department of Corrections (DOC) initially was granted an exemption due to safety concerns, but was soon after ordered to implement similar policies allowing inmates to choose to be housed in a male or a female correctional center.

The policy was expanded upon in January 2019, when the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) issued a policy allowing inmates who declare a gender identity to be housed according to their preference, regardless of “genital anatomy.”

“An inmate who identifies as transgender or intersex will not be placed in a gender-specific facility, housing unit, or program based solely on their external genital anatomy,” reads Directive 4021 on inmate classification.

“An inmate who identifies as transgender, intersex, or gender non-conforming during PREA Risk Screening, or who has a diagnosis of Gender Dysphoria or Intersex… shall be asked additional questions by their ORC using the ‘Gender Identity Interview’ regarding their gender identification, expression, and preferences,” the policy states. “The interview will also document the inmate’s statement regarding their safety in connection with decisions regarding their housing and placement. Information from the Gender Identity Interview will be used to assist the Department in making an individualized assessment of the inmate’s placement and program assignments in order to maximize the inmate’s safety.”

“Housing assignment by gender identity will be made when appropriate,” the directive continues. “A transgender or intersex inmate’s own views with respect to his or her own safety shall be given serious consideration.”

In addition to the 2019 Directive, New York Governor Kathy Hochul proposed and implemented a statewide “equity agenda” allowing trans-identifying male inmates to be transferred into women’s prisons on the basis of a self-declared “gender identity.” The policy, announced in January 2022, stated that inmates who have a ‘gender identity’ that differs from their biological sex will have the right to request placement in prison housing “with persons of the gender that is consistent with such person’s gender identity.”

Inmates who claim a transgender status also must “have access to department-issued undergarments and clothing that are consistent with the individuals’ gender identity, and shall have the ability to receive undergarments, clothing and personal care items through package procedures,” according to Hochul’s $216.3 billion budget proposal.

Hochul had also proposed transforming the existing Council on Women and Girls into a Council on Gender Equity to include trans-identified males in issues impacting women’s rights. In June 2023, at the NYC Pride March, Governor Hochul signed into law a bill that designated New York as a “safe haven” for parents seeking to medically “transition” their children via puberty-halting drugs.

As a result of gender identity policies embraced by New York’s politicians, multiple violent male criminals have been housed in women’s prisons.

One such criminal, who like Souza was transferred to Rikers’ Rose M. Singer center, is a sadistic serial killer who murdered and dismembered at least three women. Harvey Marcelin, who identifies as a “transgender lesbian” and uses the name Marceline Harvey, was arrested in 2022 for the murder of Susan Leyden after parts of her body were found scattered near Marcelin’s apartment.

Marcelin is described as “female” by the NY DOC and was placed in the women’s prison for a time, before unspecified conditions presumably linked to his advanced age saw him transferred to an infirmary center.

In November 2023, a former female inmate launched a lawsuit against the City of New York after being “repeatedly sexually assaulted” by a male inmate who had been housed in the women’s section of Rikers Island. Known only as Rose Doe, the inmate says she was subjected to repeat abuse by a male who was permitted to stay in women’s protective custody after claiming to be “transgender.”

Rose Doe was first housed at the Rose M. Singer Center, the only women’s facility on Rikers Island, in December of 2021. Shortly after, a male inmate was transferred into Doe’s unit on the basis of his self-declared “gender identity.”

According to the suit, DOC records show that at the time the male entered the women’s housing unit, he was being investigated for his potential involvement in a prostitution ring operating within Rikers Island. The ring involved staff and inmates, and the DOC was reportedly aware that he was likely moved to the female unit to facilitate his procurement of female inmates to pimp out to male inmates and staff.

Disturbingly, the lawsuit alleges multiple officials within the DOC leveraged the City’s liberal transgender inmate guidance to ensure the male inmate could remain in the female unit.

According to the complaint, the male inmate was “instructed” to claim he was transgender so he could stay in the female facility where he had easy access to female inmates.

Rose Doe was sexually assaulted by the male inmate on April 6, 2022, just months after being housed at the Rose M. Singer Center. Just two days prior to her own assault, Rose Doe witnessed the male inmate coerce a mentally ill female inmate into performing sex acts.


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Genevieve Gluck
Genevieve Gluck
Genevieve is the Co-Founder of Reduxx, and the outlet's Chief Investigative Journalist with a focused interest in pornography, sexual predators, and fetish subcultures. She is the creator of the podcast Women's Voices, which features news commentary and interviews regarding women's rights.
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