NYC will provide free testing for Rikers guards following Queens court order
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New York City correction officers are now able to receive free COVID-19 testing following a court order by a Queens judge. Photo by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography
By David Brand
New York City has agreed to provide free COVID-19 testing for the correction officers who staff Rikers Island jails, five days after initially appealing a Queens court order forcing the Department of Correction to facilitate testing and supply its beleaguered jail staff with better personal protective equipment.
Correction officers can now access free testing at urgent care centers operated by Northwell Health, according to the agreement.
“The past several weeks have hit our officers very hard,” said Elias Husamudeen, president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association. “It is our hope that with these new testing sites provided through Northwell Health, we can eventually turn these numbers around and keep our members healthy and safe.”
At least six officers have so far died of COVID-19 and more than 440 DOC staff members have tested positive for the illness, according to daily DOC reports. The devastating health impact of the coronavirus prompted COBA to file an emergency application for better supplies and testing in Queens Supreme Court on April 2.
NYC Corrections Officer Quinsey Simpson, who died due to complications of coronavirus, had been in the Department of Correction for 18 years and worked at Rikers Island. Correction Officers Benevolent Association, Inc., via AP
The next day, Queens Supreme Court Justice Pam Jackman-Brown ordered the city to provide all jail staff with non-surgical masks, personal sanitizers and free COVID-19 testing. The city appealed the order to a higher court, with the Law Department indicating that the expansive testing mandate was not feasible.
Attorneys for the city and the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association were set to return to Queens Supreme Court again Thursday in accordance with Jackman-Brown’s order to show cause but agreed to postpone that court date until April 16.
The coronavirus has swept through the close confines of city jails, where at least 287 inmates have tested positive and 257 inmates have shown symptoms of the illness, according to DOC reports.
A Law Department spokesperson said the city is “deeply concerned about the health and safety of its employees and has been working with all involved in the justice system to ensure that our correctional facilities are safe, both for those who serve the city in a very difficult job and the detainees in their custody.”
The spokesperson said the DOC has educed the number of inmates in city jails and increased cleaning at the facilities to prevent the spread of the disease. “We take seriously the issues raised by the complaint,” he said.
