BOC slams mayor’s office for skirting jail rules with executive orders
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The Department of Correction asked the Board of Correction for more time to implement the Risk Management Assessment System, an alternative to solitary confinement shown in the rendering above. Rendering via BOC
By Jacob Kaye
The New York City Department of Corrections asked the city’s jail oversight board for a little more time Tuesday to implement its long-delayed replacement for solitary confinement.
At the New York City Board of Corrections’ January meeting held Tuesday, new DOC Commissioner Louis Molina said that he and his executive team need another month to present a plan to the BOC outlining the department’s process for transitioning to the Risk Management Assessment System, a replacement for solitary confinement.
The new system was originally supposed to be implemented on Nov.1, 2021, but, through executive order, was delayed by former Mayor Bill de Blasio – an action also taken by his successor, Mayor Eric Adams.
“I can assure you that getting an implementation timeline in place is one of my top priorities,” Molina told the board Tuesday. “I have already started taking a hard look at various plans to see if there are ways to make them more efficient, more effective and more in keeping with the spirit of the [BOC] rules. I want to make sure that we explore all of our options.”
Both disciplinary measures, RMAS differs from solitary confinement in several ways. Under RMAS, incarcerated individuals will have 10 hours of out-of-cell time per day, an hour of recreation time and an hour of programming, as opposed to the 23 hours of in-cell time used in solitary confinement. Detainees placed in RMAS will have their “risk level” lowered after 15 days and be moved from the “alternative disciplinary model” back into their regular housing after a month – they’ll have the opportunity to be moved sooner based on their interaction with the programming.
Though the new model was supposed to come online several months ago, de Blasio and former DOC Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi said making the switch during a period of crisis on Rikers Island and with reduced staffing numbers, would be an issue.
In the days leading up to the deadline, de Blasio issued an executive order suspending a number of rules outlined in the BOC’s minimum standards, including the rules surrounding RMAS. On Tuesday, Rikers was keeping 8 incarcerated people in solitary confinement.
Adams questioned the transition to the new system in the days leading up to his inauguration, saying that he supports punitive segregation, another name for solitary confinement.
“For people to continue to say ‘Eric supports solitary confinement’ – that is just a lie,” Adams said at a December press conference. “I support punitive segregation. I am not going to be in a city where dangerous people assault innocent people, go to jail and assault more people.”
On Tuesday, BOC members shared their worry that if the mayor continued to issue executive orders suspending the rules, the board’s oversight power would be diminished.
“Since Jan. 1, Mayor Adams has continued the practice of using emergency executive orders to suspend the minimum standards and we remain deeply concerned,” said Jackie Sherman, the interim BOC chair. “The use of executive orders to suspend the board’s minimum standards remains a fundamental threat to the board’s authority as an oversight agency.”
“We call on the new administration to work with the board and the department to proceed with the implementation of the board’s minimum standards, which provide baseline protections for people in custody,” Sherman added.
The request comes several days after Adams suspended the board’s rules surrounding de-escalation units, or units where detainees are placed for up to 6 hours if that person poses a threat to staff or other incarcerated people. The units were supposed to go into effect on Monday, prior to the executive order, which will remain in effect for five days and likely be extended.
“We were hopeful that we were on track for the Jan. 10 deadline but unfortunately, due to the Omicron surge and our staffing challenges, we realized that would not be possible,” Molina said. “Because of the dramatic increases in positivity rates in the jails, we are not able to vacate the de-escalation units at this time.”
“I'm fully aware of the tension that arose in the board related to the use of executive orders with this perspective to Board of Correction rules, and I can assure you that this is not the way I wanted to start our relationship,” the commissioner added. “I believe that full compliance is the best approach and seeking variance is the far better approach, whenever possible, because of the flexibility that we need in order to deal with the Omicron emergency.”
As for when the executive orders will be lifted, Molina could not pin down an exact date or time.
“It is not possible for us to operate under executive orders and we are going to begin a process to not only inform our future using the data that we have within the department, but become a more data informed ecosystem here to make our decision making,” he said. “It's only been day 11 – I get it, I completely understand, I'm big on transparency and working within the compliance rules set out by this board.”
Molina and Adams took office after the deadliest year on Rikers Island in recent history. The jail complex, set to close entirely in 2027, also saw a general spike in violence, both committed by and against detainees, as well as a spike in correctional officer absences in 2021.
In regards to the staffing shortage, the DOC asked the board for more time to produce a plan to get officers back to work. In one of his first acts as commissioner, Molina loosened the rules surrounding documentation requirements for sick leave.
Around 30 percent of the DOC’s officers are unavailable to work with incarcerated people every day, according to the agency. Around 2,000 officers are either currently out sick or are being medically monitored. DOC representatives were unable to present the BOC with the average number of officers who had gone AWOL.
Additionally, the DOC is missing around 110 officers who have refused to comply with the city’s vaccine mandate and are currently on unpaid leave.
The next BOC meeting will be held on Feb. 8.
