A city correction officer and single mom hailed for her courage in February after suffering a brutal assault from a man held at Rikers Island now finds herself under fire by the Correction Department for alleged breaches of strict rules that mandate exact hours when an officer on sick leave must be home.
Last Tuesday, Correction Officer Shameka Mitchell was slapped with a two-week suspension by Assistant Commissioner for Health Management Lashawna Gordon-Dixon during an internal hearing — sparking sharp criticism from the officer’s family and her union.
Mitchell, a 12-year department veteran, was in the midst of a 16-hour tour last Feb. 8 to cover a staff shortage in the Otis Bantum Correctional Center at Rikers when detainee Robert Ray slugged her in the back of head, causing her face to slam into the mess hall floor.
She suffered a fractured eye socket and other injuries and spent five days in intensive care. As she lay in the hospital, Ray, 33, was arraigned before a crowd of Mitchell’s fellow officers and union reps including Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association President Benny Boscio. When she was discharged under her own power, more than 100 officers were present to applaud her.
“”Our heart is with our brave officer whose recovery is our first priority,” declared Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie. “The department and our entire city is with her.”
Obtained by Daily News
Mitchell suffered a fractured eye socket and other injuries and spent five days in intensive care. (Obtained by Daily News)
Eight months later, the tone has changed. Including Tuesday’s decision, the department has suspended Mitchell without pay three times for not being home when sick leave investigators checked on her.
“She put the department’s needs ahead of her own, and she paid for it with her health. But instead of being supported, she has been punished,” her sister Robin Mitchell told the Daily News..
The scrutiny and disciplinary actions, Mitchell’s sister said, are unwarranted. The officer, her sister said, is raising a daughter, 7, and a son, 13, and there’s no one to ferry them to school and their various after-school events. Mitchell’s aunt, the children’s longtime caregiver when their mom was at work, is in the midst of a cancer battle.
At the same time, Mitchell has pleaded with the Correction Department to let her return to work, but the agency has rejected those requests even though, according to Robin, her private doctors have cleared her to return. But the department’s doctor has determined she is not fit to return. As a result, Mitchell can’t work and has been deprived of the overtime she relied on to pay her expenses.
The Correction Department won’t place her on so-called medical monitoring status, essentially a desk job, that would allow her to return to work but not around the jail population, her sister says. Roughly 287 other officers or 4% of the uniformed staff, have that status, records show.
Boscio said Mitchell should either be allowed to return to work or given a wider window of out-of-home hours.
“Officer Mitchell, who was the victim of an unprovoked heinous inmate assault, has been cleared by her independent doctor and wants to return to work,” he said.
“In what has become a typical display of [Department of Correction] dysfunction and mismanagement, DOC has been suspending Officer Mitchell while simultaneously refusing to let her return to work in any capacity. DOC cannot punish officers who are out because they were violently assaulted by inmates and then refuse their doctor’s notes authorizing their return to work.”
Barry Williams/ New York Daily News
Benny Boscio (right), president of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, looks on in February as NYCDOC officer Shameka Mitchell leaves Mt. Sinai Morningside hospital. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)
Correction Department spokeswoman Latima Johnson declined to comment on the handling of Mitchell’s case, saying the agency provides “full support to officers injured in the line of duty.”
“Departmental benefits include medical care, support services and accommodations that may be needed during sick leave,” Johnson said. “While we do not discuss anyone’s personal medical information, we remain in close communication with staff to provide support throughout their recovery.”
Mitchell had never previously been suspended.
She may, however, be facing more intense scrutiny because of prior issues with sick leave abuse. In 2021 and 2022, the Correction Department came under withering criticism after hundreds of officers took advantage of liberal sick leave policies to improperly stay out of work for extended periods.
The department moved to tighten requirements, including enforcement of provisions that require officers to be at home while out sick except for preapproved reasons and during certain periods in a given day.
According to a chronology provided by her sister, Mitchell spent seven days in all at Mount Sinai Morningside hospital before emerging Feb. 14 to a customary walkout thronged with officers.
Mitchell was told, her sister claims, that she had an “accommodation” to leave home as necessary.
But on Feb. 28, while she was at a therapy appointment, she received a violation for not notifying the Correction Department.
Courtesy of family
Correction Officer Shameka Mitchell is pictured with her two children prior to the Rikers attack. (Courtesy of family)
Gordon-Dixon, the health management assistant commissioner, was initially supportive and the violation was dismissed, but subsequently began blocking Mitchell’s requests and suspending her, according to the chronology.
She received 30-day clearances to leave home as needed in April and May. On May 9, Correction Department doctors told her she couldn’t return for at least a year, but on June 11, Mitchell supplied the first of four reports from her doctor clearing her to return to full duty.
But her requests were repeatedly denied. Her full-day clearance was cut to four hours on weekdays and 12 hours on Saturdays and Sundays.
Mitchell still had her child-care duties and was hit with with violations June 12, July 4 and July 15.
Barry Williams/ New York Daily News
Correction Officer Shameka Mitchell leaves Mount Sinai Morningside hospital in February. (Barry Williams/ New York Daily News)
On Aug. 7, she was hit with a seven-day suspension from Aug. 13 to Aug. 20, which she appealed.
On Sept. 2, Gordon-Dixon denied another plea to return to work.
On Sept. 18, she was slapped with another violation while she took her aunt to the hospital for cancer treatment.
On Tuesday, she attended a hearing and received the two-week unpaid suspension. She was barred from using existing vacation time.
“My sister held her composure, but she was really upset about it,” Robin Mitchell said. “This situation is worsening her financial strain, her mental health and creating hardship for her family. It’s creating constant stress.”
“The department will work with an officer’s needs and there are processes in place for that,” another Correction Department spokesman, Patrick Gallahue, said Thursday, speaking generally.
A Bronx grand jury indicted Ray, Mitchell’s attacker, in March on four assault charges and an obstructing governmental administration charge. He is due to return to court Dec. 5, records show. Eric Steltzer, a spokesman for the Bronx district attorney’s office, declined to comment on how Mitchell’s treatment could affect the criminal case against her alleged attacker.
Ray’s lawyer Andrew Bottari did not reply to a phone message.
Originally Published: October 5, 2025 at 12:11 PM EDT
