Jail’s the Last Place You’d Want a 6-Day Erection

When experiencing an erection that lasts more than four hours, let the state of New York ignore you until you suffer permanent damage to your penis. 

A former inmate imprisoned in NYC’s The Tombs is receiving $750,000 from the city after they left his erection untreated for SIX DAYS. Rodney Cotton claims this neglect left him with “permanent injuries to his penis,” “mutilation of penis,” and “loss of function.”

The reason Cotton had a six-day erection? Well, when in The Tombs, aka the Manhattan Detention Center, in 2008 for violating parole by possessing 68 Vicodin and 100 Xanax pills, Cotton was prescribed the anti-psychotic, Risperdal, to treat his bipolar disorder. A side effect of that medicine? Painful six-day erections.

“If I had the choice between the reward and having my manhood restored, I’d have my manhood restored in a heartbeat,” said Cotton, who originally filed a $10 million lawsuit against the city, the Department of Corrections and the city Health and Hospitals Corporation back in 2012.

Cotton made numerous persistent complaints to correction officers, but even his moaning and obvious difficulty walking did not get him the help he needed. The Tombs’ infirmary did give him some incredibly unhelpful help, giving him an ice pack and Tylenol to use in his cell, but determined his case was a non-emergency. Apparently, those doctors do not catch late night erectile dysfunction ads and their warnings.

“It didn’t go down. It hurt and it started pounding,” remembered Cotton.

“I had to wear briefs or boxers. I couldn’t wear jeans,” Cotton admitted. “They had me walking around like that for almost a week.” That’s right, were you thinking about the pant situation of a full prison schedule and a raging boner? Welcome to middle school gym class with added pain.

It wasn’t until his third doctor that someone besides Cotton himself decided he needed to be sent to a hospital. Cotton was sent to Bellevue Hospital for an emergency catheter implant.

Now, just when you think this guy has been through the ringer, there is more. After surgery, Cotton was sent back to jail to heal with “self-dissolving” stitches in his penis. I use quotes because a month later the stitches were embedded in his penile skin. The stitches had to be removed by a doctor, but because this is prison and everything else has gone wrong, they were removed without anesthesia.

With the settlement money Cotton received on the eve of his trial, he is planning on moving to Atlanta, where his daughter lives, for a new start. Cotton has been behind bars for 39 of his 50 years which included a 1989 manslaughter case.

In addition to the city, the Department of Corrections, and the city Health and Hospitals Corporation, Corizon, the controversial non-profit that runs city jail health-care services was named. Their contract was not reviewed in June by NYC for providing inadequate care to inmates.

“They took my manhood!” Cotton relinquished. “It’s embarrassing. We’re here to create. I can’t perform my duties as a man.”