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RIKERS ISLAND JAIL VIOLENCE NOT ADDRESSED, NYC SHOULD BE HELD IN CONTEMPT: FED
MONITOR

"Real harm is occurring to real people in real time," the report said.

By
Aaron Katersky
July 10, 2023, 3:04 PM ET
• 5 min read

Rikers Island correction officer stabbed A corrections officer at Rikers Island
was stabbed at least 15 times in the back of his head by an inmate in an
“unprovoked, heinous and callous attack,” officials said.Seth Wenig/AP, FILE

A federal judge should consider holding New York City and its Department of
Correction in contempt for failing to adequately address security, management
and discipline at the problem-plagued Rikers Island jail complex, a
court-appointed monitor recommended Monday in a new report.

The recommendation followed the monitor's conclusion "that the risk of harm in
the jails remains grave and that the jails remain patently unsafe" after a year
of "unprecedented rates of use of force and violence."



"Real harm is occurring to real people in real time, and that cautious optimism
that meaningful change can occur in this system has significantly diminished
given the current climate of regression in key areas and the lack of sustained
progress in others coupled with an increasing and troubling lack of
transparency," the report said.


A general view shows the Rikers Island jail complex in the East River of New
York, Jan. 13, 2022.Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

The report said that "some progress has been made" since a monitor was appointed
in 2014 but it also said court-ordered reforms "remain incomplete or have not
been addressed," leaving "no meaningful relief for people in custody or staff
from the violence and the unnecessary and excessive use of force."

MORE: Rikers Island conditions so bad that prosecutors told not to ask for bail
in nonviolent cases

New York City Mayor Eric Adams' administration has argued it should retain
control of Rikers. A federal judge is considering whether the federal government
should take it over.

"While we are still reviewing this recently released report, we are prepared to
fully defend against any contempt motion and the record will reflect the
important and necessary steps New York City has taken to make continued
progress," a spokesperson for the mayor's office said in a statement.



In this Dec. 2, 2014 file photo the Rikers Island jail complex is seen.Seth
Wenig/AP, FILE

The dynamics at Rikers have changed since the monitor was installed. COVID-19
triggered a staffing crisis and New York's bail reform law changed the
composition of the incarcerated population.

Individuals with less serious offenses are generally no longer held pending
trial, resulting in a heavier concentration of violent offenders.

MORE: Rikers Island corrections officer stabbed 15 times in 'unprovoked, heinous
and callous attack'

Still, the monitor found there is a "pervasive, imminent risk of harm to both
people in custody and staff," citing "extraordinarily high" rates of use of
force, stabbings and slashings, fights, assaults on staff, and in-custody
deaths.

Staff members are deploying head strikes, chokeholds, kicks and body slams, the
monitor said.


A federal judge should consider holding New York City and its Department of
Correction in contempt for failing to adequately address security, management
and discipline at the problem-plagued Rikers Island jail complex, a
court-appointed monitor. On May 12, 2023, this screen grab shows in a General
Population unit at GRVC, many PICs were out in the dayroom area.Special Report
by the Nunez Independent Monitor

The report included security camera images that captured instances of what the
monitor called an "apathetic approach to basic security," including when staff
cede control of a housing unit to the inmates.

One image showed a prison officer watching a fight among inmates from a
stairwell.

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