Action plan won’t end Rikers dysfunction, advocates say
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The city submitted its updated Rikers Island action plan to a federal judge on Friday, June 10, 2022. The federal monitor and attorneys with The Legal Aid Society don’t believe the plan will address the dysfunction within the jail complex, particularly when it comes to addressing staffing issues. AP file photo by Julie Jacobson
By Jacob Kaye
Attorneys for the city and the New York City Department of Correction filed a nearly 30-page action plan to address the dysfunction and violence on Rikers Island on Friday, however others involved in the federal case over conditions in the jail complex say the plan won’t do enough to turn the jail around.
The city submitted its revised action plan to federal Judge Laura Swain on Friday, the deadline set by the judge around three weeks ago. A previous version of the plan was too vague, the judge ruled before she ordered the DOC to expand the plan with details and metrics to measure successes and failures in late May.
City officials said in court Friday that the new plan does just that.
“The plan is a road map to sustainable reform and to the stabilization of the department,” city attorney Kimberly Joyce said in a letter to Swain. “It is a plan that will ensure the safety of all those who live and work at Rikers.”
The action plan, submitted as Swain considers bringing in a federal receiver to run Rikers Island, aims to address a number of issues identified by the federal monitor Steve Martin and his federal monitoring team over the years. It includes items related to curbing excessive staff absenteeism, upgrading the jail’s infrastructure and taking steps to reduce violence behind bars.
But attorneys for the Legal Aid Society, who represent the plaintiffs in the case, and the federal monitor, who worked with the DOC to craft the plan, both called into question the city’s ability to improve conditions in the jail, even if the action plan is fully implemented.
“While the action plan certainly is a viable pathway forward, the monitoring team must acknowledge that given the decades of mismanagement, quagmire of bureaucracy, and limited proficiencies of many of the people who must lead the necessary transformation, serious concerns remain about whether the city and department are capable of fully and faithfully implementing this action plan with integrity,” the monitor wrote in a letter to Swain.
“This combined with the monitoring team’s serious concerns about the current conditions of the jails means the monitoring team cannot warrant that the action plan alone will be sufficient to address the danger, violence, and chaos that continue to occur daily,” Martin added.
However, the monitor added that regardless of whether or not Swain decides to institute a federal receivership, which could include full takeover of the jail by a federal authority, the action plan should be implemented immediately.
“[T]he city and department have stated unequivocally that they believe they can and will advance reforms and address the unsafe conditions under this action plan,” Martin said. “Given that steps must be taken right now to address the dire conditions, at this juncture, proceeding with the action plan is necessary as the parties and the court continue to work to determine if other remedial measures may be necessary.”
Attorneys for the Legal Aid Society, who represented the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit that led to the implementation of the federal monitoring program in 2015, were less optimistic about the plan submitted to the court.
“The plan’s significant deficiencies render it insufficient to redress the ongoing harm,” the attorneys wrote in a letter to Swain. “Regrettably, our negotiations with the city did not provide us with a reasonable basis to believe that further discussions will yield more concrete or robust commitments. Through this process, the city has not demonstrated the will or ability to make the difficult choices necessary to meet the demands of the moment.”
“While the plan describes some worthwhile measures that, if implemented with fidelity, could improve operations in the jails, it does not provide a full and adequate remedy for the ongoing violations of the court’s order,” the letter continues. “Time and again, the city has failed to implement the plans developed with the monitor and ordered by the court. There is a six-year history of unexecuted plans, failed protocols and abandoned initiatives, some strikingly similar to those in the city’s current plan.”
Much of the disagreement over the submitted plan surrounds staffing.
Attorneys for the Legal Aid Society said the action plan doesn’t go into enough detail about what sort of programs or changes to DOC policies the city plans to use to reduce staff absenteeism, lower the use of force rate and discipline officers who may have acted improperly.
There are currently around 2,000 backlogged disciplinary cases the DOC has yet to address.
However, Joyce said the agency has begun to take action to reign in staff absenteeism, which played a major factor in the majority of deaths while in custody this year, according to a recent Board of Correction report.
According to Joyce, the DOC has upped the number of visits they make to the homes of officers claiming to be out sick or who were reported to be AWOL.
Since May 1, the DOC has suspended 52 correctional officers and a captain for allegedly violating the agency’s staffing policies, Joyce said.
There has been a 40 percent reduction in staff absenteeism in the past year, according to Joyce. However, around 980 uniformed officers continue to call out sick each day on average.
Additionally, the federal monitor has, for months, recommended that the city bring in personnel not currently working in the DOC to serve in management positions at Rikers Island. However, city officials have pushed back, citing a local law that prevents them from doing so.
In communications to the court Friday, both the monitor and the Legal Aid Society questioned why the city hasn’t yet sought or isn’t willing to seek a court order from Swain to allow the DOC to work around the law.
“The city’s refusal to entertain any remedial measure that would conflict with state or local laws demonstrates the limits of their commitment to reform,” Legal Aid Society attorneys wrote.
Whether or not the DOC seeks a court order to work around the law, a federal receivership would allow the local law to be skirted.
However, what exactly a federal receivership would look like at Rikers Island, isn’t exactly clear – that’s because federal receivership can vary from case to case. It could mean having a federal authority work side by side with the DOC, or it could mean a complete replacement of current DOC leadership with federal officials.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams was the first to suggest the implementation of a receivership in April. Williams cited what he said was a lack of change in the jail in the nearly seven years since the implementation of the federal monitor.
Last year, 16 incarcerated people died while in DOC custody, marking an eight-year high. This year, six people have died while in custody.
