She Says She Was Sexually Abused in New York Prisons. Now She's Fighting the State From Her Hospital Bed

This story was produced in partnership with New York Focus. The reporting was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism.

Diagnosed with a terminal heart condition, Sierra Johnson sometimes spends weeks at a time in the hospital. But she's determined to not let her health get in the way of her lawsuit against the state of New York.  

The 36-year-old Native American resident of the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne sued the state in 2023, alleging that four of its employees sexually assaulted her while she was incarcerated in two state prisons in 2014 and 2017. 

At the end of May, Johnson spoke with Hell Gate and New York Focus from her hospital bed at the University of Vermont Medical Center, where she was recovering from a two-week stint in intensive care after suffering a severe heart attack and cardiogenic shock. Doctors have diagnosed her with end-stage heart failure, according to medical records, and have twice told her that she has days to live. Johnson, who has a teenage daughter, said she intends to spend the time she has left making state prisons safer for the women who will be held in them in the future.

"It's not just about me. If it was, I would have just ate it," she said. "But I don't know if I'm gonna make it through this year. And no matter what, when it comes to the treatment of inmates, we should be treated as human beings."