NEW YORK – New York City faced mounting pressure on Friday to resolve the prison crisis after members of Congress called for a federal civil rights investigation and a court-appointed monitor criticizing the city for a leadership failure amid of the violence, self-harm and deaths that have occurred this year with at least 12 inmates.
Federal District Judge Laura Swain, who oversees a jail consent decree, said in an emergency conference call Friday that the notorious Rikers Island city jail complex is “clearly in a state of danger and crisis.” On the call, the inmates’ attorneys and the city government discussed the monitor’s latest recommendations to reverse deteriorating conditions and debilitating staff absences.
They include requiring new inmates to be processed within 24 hours, rather than staying on admission for days, keeping inmates involved in violent altercations locked in their cells, reiterating to guards their duty to stop self-harm, and Bring new perspectives by allowing the city to hire guards and fill managerial positions outside of the city system.
“This is an urgent matter of life and death and it needs help today,” said attorney Mary Lynne Werlwas, director of the Prisoners’ Rights Project at the Legal Aid Society, noting the deaths of two inmates since Sunday.
While that was happening, Mayor Bill de Blasio said he will go to Rikers Island next week to see the problems firsthand, his first time there since 2017. His announcement followed recent tours of the facility by elected officials and advocates who they have highlighted a “humanitarian crisis” of misery and suffering behind bars.
City Councilman Joe Borelli said he visited Rikers Island Thursday night and conditions there were “worse than I’ve seen before and worse than you imagine.” Borelli, a Staten Island Republican, said before the visit he thought colleagues who had come to Rikers were being hyperbolic, “but I can inform you that this is not hyperbole.”
More inmates in the city’s jails have died this year than in any of the past three years. There were seven deaths in 2020, three in 2019 and eight in 2018, according to the city’s Pressure Department. At least five deaths this year were suicides, most since 2005. A report from the city last week showed much higher rates of violence, serious injuries to inmates and assaults on staff compared to previous years.
In a letter sent Friday to President Joe Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland, Democratic members of the city’s Congressional delegation called for a federal civil rights investigation of the city’s jails. They said the federal government had a duty to step in and “provide much-needed oversight and accountability for staff, officers and detainees residing on Rikers Island.”
“We cannot continue to allow Rikers Island to deteriorate to the point that it is no longer a safe place for detainees or those who work in prisons,” said representatives.
A message was left seeking comment with the Justice Department, whose intervention in a decade-long lawsuit by inmates over prison conditions prompted a settlement that led to a consent decree and the federal overseer of the prison system.
“The Government, of course, is alarmed by the extraordinary level of violence and disorder in the prisons, and the continued failure of the city to comply with the basic provisions of the consent sentence,” said Justice Department attorney Jeffrey Powell, on the emergency conference call on Friday.
Four Democratic congressmen from New York sent a letter Tuesday to New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio demanding that the inmates be released and Rikers immediately shut down. The city had said it plans to close the facility by 2027.
Federal monitor Steve J. Martin said on Friday’s emergency conference call that the city’s prison system needs a “back to basics” overhaul that he dubbed “Corrections 101,” while overworked guards they continue to leave gates unlocked, leave stalls, and ignore signs of distress. He criticized city officials for failing to present “even one” concrete solution to lingering security concerns.
In a recent incident, Martin said, officers did not immediately respond when an inmate attempted to hang himself in his line of sight about 6 feet away, and an officer walking directly in front of the cell did nothing. Ultimately, the guards noticed the man, shot him down and he survived, Martin said.
Swain called the guards’ behavior “absolutely unacceptable.”
“It is unacceptable to intentionally ignore self-injurious behavior, to ignore self-injurious behavior or the signs of it. It needs to be communicated immediately, ”Swain said during the three-hour call. “There is no good reason for anyone to think that is acceptable. And to the extent that someone misinterprets it, that should be communicated immediately. “
Uniformed staff in the city’s jails has plummeted, from a staff of 10,862 in fiscal year 2017 to 8,388 in 2021. The guards union says 7,600 of the staff are correctional officers and the remainder are on supervisory roles. At one point in the summer, a third of the guards were ill or in no condition to work with inmates, the city said. In addition, an incalculable number of guards were absent without permission.
The city, which is struggling to fill jail positions, said it is offering incentives, including paying extra overtime, and bringing food trucks and overnight transportation home for jail guards who work extra shifts. Since last week, he has been cracking down on officers who do not show up for work. City attorney Kimberly Joyce said Friday that 55 jail guards have been suspended 30 days without pay for not showing up for duty.
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