‘Harm, life-altering injuries and death’: Monitor says DOC failed to report five serious incidents on Rikers

The DOC failed to report five near-fatal or fatal incidents in May, the federal monitor said in a special report filed last week. AP file photo by Julie Jacobson

By Jacob Kaye

Hours before the holiday weekend, the federal monitor overseeing Rikers Island filed a “special report” alleging that Department of Correction brass wasn’t forthcoming about nearly half a dozen recent fatal or near-fatal incidents in the city’s jails.

Steve Martin, the federal monitor appointed to oversee conditions on Rikers Island nearly a decade ago, said in the report filed in federal court on Friday that the DOC did not properly notify the monitoring team about five “serious” incidents that occurred this month inside Rikers Island, including a detainee’s suicide and an incident that sent an 80-year-old detainee to the intensive care unit.

The monitor said that his team learned about three of the incidents from media reports and other sources with knowledge of the jails, and that the other two incidents were told to them after they had begun to question DOC leadership on the first three.

But even after the monitoring team learned of the incidents, DOC Commissioner Louis Molina actively attempted to suppress the information from the public, Martin alleged.

Just hours before the report was filed with the court, Molina requested that Martin not release it, claiming that it would cause “great harm [to the Department] at a time when we are making great strides.”

“Overall, the commissioner’s May 26, 2023 communication raises significant concerns about whether the commissioner and the department fully appreciate the gravity of the issues at hand and the importance of transparency and oversight,” the report reads. “Serious, life-altering harm has occurred, and an imminent risk of harm to others in custody remains.”

The report’s findings again prompted calls for federal Judge Laura Swain to implement a federal receiver, a federal authority that could take control of the management of Rikers Island away from the city’s correctional department.

Swain denied the request from attorneys with the Legal Aid Society last fall and again in April, both times citing efforts the DOC has made toward making Rikers Island safer. Both decisions have been supported by the monitor.

In a letter addressed to Swain following the filing of the report, the public defense firm said that they believe that the incidents “involve the same core of dangerous deficiencies identified time and again in this case.”

“The commissioner’s apparent view that the monitor’s concerns are not significant makes clear why the authority to implement reforms should be taken out of the city’s hands and placed with an actor that appreciates the gravity of the situation and will make appropriate decisions,” the attorneys said.

According to the monitor, in one of the cases, a person in custody attempted to run out of an elevator on May 11. He was caught by correctional officers, who tackled him to the ground. While he was in cuffs and shackles, an officer was attempting to assist him with his shoes. At that point, he “jerked” his knee toward the officer’s helmet.

Then, the officers again slammed him to the ground, hitting his head on the cement floor, the monitor says. He was allegedly limp when he was again lifted up.

After being taken to the hospital, he was found to be paralyzed from the neck down, the monitor said.

In the report, the monitor also discusses the death of Rubu Zhao, a 52-year-old detainee who jumped from a multi-tiered mental health unit in an alleged suicide attempt. Though the incident and Zhao’s subsequent death was reported in multiple media outlets, including the Eagle, the DOC did not properly report the incident until after the detainee died, the monitor said.

The monitor also describes a May 17 incident in the report, in which a newly-admitted detainee was attacked by several other incarcerated individuals while in an intake cell. After the attack, video of the incident allegedly shows the detainee struggling to walk. Officers allegedly took him to a separate cell, where he was “left naked and alone for at least three hours.” Though he was allegedly exhibiting signs of distress, the multiple officers who walked by him did not help, the monitor said.

Three hours after the assault, he was given a pair of underwear and taken to a clinic, and later to the hospital, where he required internal surgery.

The monitor said that the incident was not properly reported until 69 hours after it had occurred. When questioned about it by the monitoring team, Molina allegedly implied that he didn’t believe it was an incident the monitor had the authority to investigate because the DOC’s own investigation was not yet complete.

The fourth incident the monitor discussed in the report involved a detainee who experienced a medical emergency on May 20. The DOC told the monitoring team that the detainee, who was put on life support shortly after being taken to the hospital, suffered a heart attack while incarcerated and that his condition was unrelated to any actions taken by officers. But the monitor questioned that claim.

“It is unclear how the department was able to reach the conclusion that there was ‘no departmental wrongdoing’ given the limited information available about the underlying incident,” the monitor wrote. “As the monitoring team received no further details regarding the incident other than that which is stated herein, the monitoring team is unable to assess the incident and the veracity of the department’s claims.”

The final incident in the monitor’s report involved an approximately 80-year-old detainee with “possible cognitive impairment, serious underlying health issues and limited English proficiency” who was forced into a wheelchair and restraints by staff after refusing to go into a cell.

The man was then placed in a cell without a sink or toilet for at least four hours before being taken to a mental health observation unit, the monitor said. The next morning, the man was found to have had significant blood in his urine and taken to a hospital, where he was placed in the ICU.

He was granted compassionate release on May 25, five days after being admitted into Rikers.

Like the other four incidents, the incident involving the 80-year-old was not properly reported by the DOC, according to the monitor.

“This is not simply about a delay in providing information,” the monitor’s report reads. “Along with the serious concerns about harm and the lack of safety that these incidents present, it is disturbing that the monitoring team, and consequently the court, would have been unaware that the incidents had occurred but for the allegations received from external stakeholders and/or media reports.”

“It is further unclear whether, absent the monitoring team’s inquiries, the department would have taken the necessary steps to investigate these incidents,” Martin added. “Further, while the commissioner may believe that these issues do not ‘impede [our] work,’ it is not for the commissioner to decide what does or does not impede the monitoring team’s work. That is for the monitor to determine in his sole discretion.”

In a statement regarding the report, Molina claimed that his administration has brought the DOC “back from the brink of collapse,” adding that he would “not be deterred in continuing our good work.” He did not address any of the incidents or the alleged failures to report them in the statement.

“Over the last 18 months, we have dramatically reduced violence, eliminated rampant absenteeism, improved critical aspects of our training, infused outside correctional expertise into our ranks, significantly improved court production, and made Rikers Island safer for every person in our custody and every single officer,” Molina said. “Simply put, the Department of Correction is in a much better place today than it was during the last administration.”