Exclusive | Female Rikers officer punched in the face by hulking inmate wants NYC to reinstate solitary confinement

A longtime Rikers Island correction officer needed six stitches to close a gaping gash over her eye Friday, after being bashed in the face by a violent inmate at the notorious city jail.The 47-year-old, who asked to remain anonymous because she wasn’t cleared to speak publicly, told The Post she’s tired of the Island’s incarcerated getting off scot-free and is calling on the city to revive the recently-sacked solitary confinement.“They just assault us and come right back into the same housing areas,” said the officer, who has spent a decade on the job.  “They brag about this,” she added.

“‘They say, ‘I just assaulted an officer but nothing’s going to happen to me.’ They used to get put in segregation.” The officer was at work Friday afternoon when she saw inmate Rosita Sanders — who stands a hulking 5-feet 10 inches and weighs an oversized 200 pounds — allegedly strike another inmate. The officer, who’s a much slighter 5-foot-4, was reporting the assault when Sanders snuck up behind her and clocked her on the side of the face, she said.“I was just in shock from the blow,” the officer, who has a 12-year-old son, said.The officer said she asked the inmate, “Why did you hit me?”Sanders, whose rap sheet includes two alleged assaults from earlier this month, simply responded, “Just spray me!” referring to pepper spray officers carry. There was blood gushing down the officer’s face as she grabbed a piece of white paper and pressed it against the wound. “I had blood everywhere,” she recalled.

“I put a piece of paper on the side of my face and just walked to the clinic.”Sanders is in Rikers awaiting trial on the alleged attacks from early November, court records show.She was rearrested for pouncing on the unsuspecting officer and hit with second-degree assault and other charges, according to the Correction Officers Union.

But “it doesn’t matter,” said the officer.“She’s already in jail for assault.�...