Rikers Island corrections officers claimed they couldn’t be sued for false arrest for placing a prisoner in near-solitary isolation because he was already in custody. But a federal judge disagreed.

Southern District Judge J. Paul Oetken (See Profile) refused to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Roberto DeJesus, who said he was badly beaten by four baton-wielding officers and, when he returned from Elmhurst Hospital, was placed in punitive segregation for 205 days.