Manhattan judge orders release of 16 Rikers inmates, ruling COVID-19 violates due process rights
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Rikers Island. AP Photo/Seth Wenig
By David Brand
At least 16 Rikers Island inmates are heading home from jail after a Manhattan Supreme Court judge ruled Thursday that the city and state violated their Constitutional rights by detaining them during the COVID-19 outbreak.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Mark Dwyer determined that the 16 detainees — a mix of defendants in pretrial detention and individuals jailed for parole violations — should be released because their age and medical conditions made them particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. Confinement during the pandemic violated the litigants’ due process rights, Dwyer found.
The judge’s ruling was the result of a lawsuit filed by the Legal Aid Society on behalf of 32 defendants on March 24. The organization said it hoped the decision would set a precedent.
“This ruling is a substantial step forward towards getting our clients off Rikers Island out of harm’s way, and back home with their families,” said Corey Stoughton, the top attorney in Legal Aid’s Special Litigation Unit.
At least 75 detainees and 37 staff in city jails have tested positive for the illness, according to city officials.
The rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases in city jails has surged over the past two weeks, far outpacing the city’s overall rate of cases. The close quarters of jail strain “social distancing” efforts to prevent the spread of the illness among detainees and staff, say advocates, lawmakers and the board that oversees city jails.
“It’s unconscionable that those in power continue to ignore this reality,” Stoughton said.
Even before the coronavirus created a health crisis in New York City, advocates had sounded the alarm about its likely impact in jails.
“They’re already quarantined and that will spread like wildfire,” Akeem Browder told the Eagle on March 3.
Browder, an advocate for the rights of the incarcerated who was formerly detained on Rikers Island, founded the Kalief Browder Foundation in honor of his brother, who committed suicide following a three-year stint in Rikers jails.
“I fear that if there were to be an outbreak, that our loved ones are not prepared, or the jails are not prepared to handle it,” he added.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article erroneously stated that Mayor Bill de Blasio said he would release 500 detainees serving city sentences.
