Conditions on Rikers ‘deteriorate’
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In a recent letter filed in court, the federal monitor appointed to oversee Rikers Island said conditions had deteriorated and primarily blamed the issues on a staffing shortage. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
By Jacob Kaye
Days after the federal monitor appointed to oversee Rikers Island filed a letter in court describing worsening conditions in the city’s notorious jail, public defenders from Queens joined attorneys from around the city in voicing their concern for incarcerated individuals and correctional officers alike Thursday.
The Queens Defenders, Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defenders, The Bronx Defenders, New York County Defender Services and Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem all signed on to the letter sent to Mayor Bill de Blasio, Gov. Kathy Hochul, Department of Corrections and Community Supervision Commissioner Anthony Annucci and Department of Correction Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi.
The letter calls for actions to be taken to reduce the incarcerated population at Rikers, end triple shifts for correctional officers and pass legislation to end mandatory detention.
“In addition to the increasing spread of COVID-19, a mass wave of staff absenteeism has created an extraordinarily dangerous disruption to both security and basic services for people in custody,” the public attorneys wrote. “The jails simply cannot house people safely.”
The public defenders’ letter comes several days after Steve J. Martin, the federal monitor appointed to oversee the city’s controversial jail complex, filed a letter in U.S Southern District Court explaining that the conditions on Rikers had deteriorated in the past several months since the publishing of the monitor’s eleventh report on the jail.
Martin noted “a steady increase in serious use of force incidents, a disturbing rise in the level of security lapses and unchecked breaches and failures of basic security protocols, and instances of inadequate supervision.”
The federal monitor blamed the worsening conditions on “staffing challenges.”
The DOC currently employs around 8,800 uniformed staff members, however around 1,600 were on sick leave at the end of last month, another 1,400 were being medically monitored and unable to work with incarcerated people and 2,200 didn’t show up for shifts, according to the agency.
Correctional officers have unlimited sick leave, which Martin said was being “increasingly utilized and possibly abused.”
The Correctional Officers Benevolent Association, a union that represents correctional officers, have been calling for an increase in hiring and better conditions on Rikers in recent months.
On Aug. 16, around 200 current and former officers rallied in front of the Rikers Island bridge to demand the DOC end the practice of triple shifts, where officers are assigned to work for over 24 hours.
The Correctional Officers Benevolent Association did not respond to request for comment for this story.
The staff shortage led to multiple instances of violence, where both officers and incarcerated individuals suffered injuries, the federal monitor said.
On June 23, an incarcerated person was able to slip through an unsecured door and pour “scalding water on another detainee, causing 2nd degree burns all over the victim’s body,” according to Martin.
The attack led to several other incidents that resulted in serious injuries to around four incarcerated people and multiple correctional officers, including the slashing of an officer by the same attacker on Aug. 5.
Martin also raised concerns that detainees are being held in intake units for over 24 hours, which has resulted in delays in providing medical services and meals.
The letter also outlines the rise in suicides inside the city’s jail, which Martin called “a great concern.”
“The Monitoring Team is aware of at least four presumed in-custody suicides and other troubling self-harm incidents involving detainees since December 2020, with most, if not all cases, raising questions about the adequacy of staff’s response to detainees who are at risk of self-harm,” the letter reads.
The letter recommends several solutions to reduce the instances of violence, including revamping the way officers are assigned throughout Rikers, which Martin calls “convoluted.”
The monitor hired an independent expert to assess the way officers are assigned to posts. Observation by the expert began in July, the letter said.
It also recommends that the city take action to bring AWOL and sick officers back to work as soon as possible.
The public defenders urged prosecutors and judges to reduce the number of people they send to Rikers and encouraged “increased scrutiny around bail requests,” in their letter.
They also called on the mayor to grant work release to people serving sentences in the city’s jails and also take measures to get correctional officers back to work.
Lastly, the attorneys called on Hochul to sign State Senator Brian Benjamin’s Less is More Act, which would eliminate mandatory detention in cases where people are charged with violating their parole. Hochul named Benjamin her lieutenant governor on Thursday.
DOC Commissioner Schiraldi, who was appointed in June, recently laid out plans to improve conditions on Rikers. The plan, named New Day DOC, addresses several of the concerns raised by the federal monitor, including increasing security measures and incentivizing staff to return to work.
“We are committed to addressing the issues raised by the monitor which is why we’ve implemented the comprehensive #NEWDAYDOC plan,” Schiraldi said in a statement to the Eagle. “Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we have resolved more cases than ever before in the last year and a half and are actively discussing the Monitor’s recommendations with our partners at the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings and the City Law Department.”
“We know there is much more work to do and we are constantly working on addressing these issues,” he added.
