Board of Correction sues DOC over revoked video access
/
The Board of Correction sued the Department of Correction on Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, over a DOC policy change that saw board members’ remote access to video from within Rikers Island revoked. Screenshot via BOC
By Jacob Kaye
The Board of Correction, the citizen watchdog board charged with providing oversight to the Department of Correction, sued the agency in an effort to regain unfettered access to video from within Rikers Island after DOC brass revoked the board’s ability to view it remotely earlier this year.
The BOC, one of the oldest oversight bodies in New York City, took legal action against the DOC in Bronx Supreme Court on Wednesday, one day before a federal judge is expected to begin hearing arguments over whether or not Rikers Island should be taken out of DOC’s hands and put into the control of a court-appointed authority, otherwise known as a federal receiver. On Wednesday, separate from the suit, a majority of the BOC’s members said that they were in support of the extraordinary judicial order.
At the heart of the suit is a policy decision made by DOC Commissioner Louis Molina in January to take away BOC members’ remote access to video surveillance on Rikers Island, the jail where over three dozen people have died in a little more than two and a half years.
Molina’s revocation of the video access led to the resignation of the board’s executive director earlier this year and has been at the center of an ongoing fight between the oversight board and the agency over the DOC’s alleged unwillingness to participate with the BOC’s oversight, an attitude some say extends beyond the BOC and to any oversight at all.
In their suit, the BOC said that Molina’s decision to revoke their remote video access was one that “flies in the face of the express inspection rights granted to the Board under the New York City Charter.”
Though the board is still able to view video in-person on Rikers Island, they said in the suit that the limitation has a number of negative impacts on their ability to provide oversight to the agency that has seen seven people die in its custody this year.
“The negative impact that the restrictions have on the Board’s ability to perform its duties cannot be overstated: Video access, including access to a live feed, is one of the most crucial means by which the Board can effectively monitor the City’s jails; ensure DOC’s compliance with the minimum standards the Board has established; and conduct independent, confidential investigations into incidents of violence, use of force, responses to medical emergencies, and improper, potentially criminal, conduct by DOC staff, among other things,” the board said in their lawsuit.
In their court filing, the oversight board accused the move as being just one of several Molina has made in the first year and eight months of his tenure in office to elude oversight.
“Commissioner Molina’s arbitrary exercise of authority is of a piece with DOC’s pattern and practice of attempting at any cost to evade oversight, transparency, and accountability,” the suit reads.
In filing the suit, the BOC called on a judge to order a preliminary injunction, restoring “the authority that the Board is granted, and the oversight that DOC is subject to, under the City Charter.”
Submitted alongside the suit was a series of letters between Molina and BOC Chair Dwayne Sampson, a Mayor Eric Adams appointee who has been accused by several board members and criminal justice advocates of being far too favorable to the DOC and the Adams administration.
In the letters, Sampson urges Molina to restore the board’s access to the remote feed. Molina, who does not budge on the request, says in the letters that he decided to revoke the board’s access to the video after members of the media received copies of video and still images that the commissioner believes only could have come from members of the BOC.
In one instance, Molina claims that a Freedom of Information Law request from a reporter with NY1 concerning the incidents that led up the deaths of one of 19 detainees last year was too specific not to have been fed to them by the BOC. In his letter, Molina does not offer any evidence that suggests the information came from a member of the BOC.
The Board of Correction had its remote access to video from Rikers Island revoked by the DOC earlier this year. On Wednesday, the BOC sued the DOC over the policy decision. Screenshot via Nunez monitor
In the letter, Molina notes two other instances in which the BOC turned over information to reporters and defense attorneys. In each case, Molina says that the information should not have been released.
After revoking the board’s access to the video, the board’s former executive director, Amanda Masters, announced that she would be stepping down from her post. In her resignation letter to the board, she specifically cited Molina’s then-recent policy change.
“[Molina] has also acted to restrict and encumber staff access to information necessary to perform their work effectively and to discuss and illustrate their findings among themselves, with me, and with board members,” Masters said in the February letter.
“I hope the Department will change course — soon — and allow unfettered access to images and video again,” she added. “This period has been very unfortunate.”
According to several BOC members who released statements regarding the lawsuit on Wednesday, the board had been in ongoing discussions with the DOC over the past several months to restore access to remote video. However, the department has allegedly been unwilling to reverse the policy.
“It’s disappointing that we’ve been forced to take the unprecedented step of entering into litigation against the city in order to ensure that we, and our staff, have access to the tools we need to do our jobs,” said board member Rachael Bedard.
“Video access is critical to the Board’s ability to carry out its oversight function,” Bedard added. “While I wish that the Department of Correction was a more willing partner in ensuring transparency into the jails, we cannot wait any longer for their cooperation.”
The sentiment was echoed by longtime BOC member Robert Cohen, who also noted Molina’s recent scuffle with Steve Martin, the federal monitor appointed in 2015 to track conditions on Rikers Island. Earlier this summer, Martin accused Molina of failing to communicate five serious incidents, two of which resulted in detainee deaths. The lack of communication appeared to be at the heart of federal Judge Laura Swain’s decision to allow receivership proceedings to move forward.
“Commissioner Molina wants the jails to operate in darkness by preventing our access to necessary data and video,” Cohen said in a statement. “He refuses to notify the public about deaths in custody and, according to the Nunez Independent Monitor’s reporting, is not forthcoming about incidents of serious violence by his staff.”
“The Board’s action today will require the Mayor and his Commissioner to honor the City Charter and restore the unfettered access we need to oversee the city’s jails,” Cohen added.
Cohen, Bedard and BOC members Jacqueline Sherman, Felipe Franco and DeAnna Hoskins said in an op-ed published in the Daily News on Wednesday morning that they believe Swain should eventually institute a federal receivership on Rikers Island.
“We routinely tour jails and speak to people who are incarcerated and to staff. People in custody tell us that they are afraid for their safety and that they are regularly denied exercise, access to medical care, and time out of their cell,” the board members wrote in the op-ed. “Correction officers tell us that they work too many double and triple shifts and fear retaliation when they speak up about unsafe conditions.”
“In explaining his support for a receivership, Manhattan’s federal prosecutor, Damian Williams, said ‘after eight years of trying every tool in the toolkit, we cannot wait any longer for substantial progress to materialize,’” the board members added. “We agree, and would add that we’ve lost faith in this administration to do what is right.”
In addition to the five members of the BOC and Williams, the Legal Aid Society, the federal monitor, a number of criminal justice and good government groups, City Comptroller Brad Lander, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and several other local and state elected officials have publicly expressed their support for a federal receivership ruling.
The DOC will appear before Swain on Thursday afternoon during a conference in which receivership proceedings are largely expected to begin.
Should the proceedings continue, it’s unlikely Swain will make a decision on receivership before next year.
