Rikers ‘deadlocking’ allegations resurface at Council hearing as DOC denials continue

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Rikers ‘deadlocking’ allegations resurface at Council hearing as DOC denials continue

Nearly two years after a social worker first alleged that correctional officers on Rikers Island regularly locked up detainees suffering from mental health issues for weeks or months at a time – cutting them off from healthcare, programming and other people in custody – the debate over the existence of the practice, known as “deadlocking,” continued during a City Council hearing Wednesday.

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Judge troubled after DOC leadership accused of attempting to stifle oversight

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Judge troubled after DOC leadership accused of attempting to stifle oversight

A federal judge said that Department of Correction Commissioner Stanley Richards appeared to violate a number of court orders when he issued a recent directive limiting his top deputies from communicating with oversight officials charged with leading reform efforts at Rikers Island.

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Rikers monitor rips DOC leadership over ‘grave concerns’ about transparency

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Rikers monitor rips DOC leadership over ‘grave concerns’ about transparency

After months of praising a shift toward greater transparency at the Department of Correction, the federal watchdog overseeing Rikers Island sharply changed course Thursday, accusing agency leadership of taking steps that could undermine court-ordered reforms.

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Man dies in Bellevue jail unit, becoming sixth DOC death of 2026

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Man dies in Bellevue jail unit, becoming sixth DOC death of 2026

A man being held in a new Bellevue Hospital jail unit for detainees with serious medical needs died on Wednesday, becoming the sixth person to die in Department of Correction custody this year.

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City revives long-stalled element of Rikers closure plan

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City revives long-stalled element of Rikers closure plan

After former Mayor Eric Adams stalled on a key element of the plan to close Rikers Island, the Mamdani administration on Monday reversed course, transferring three jail facilities out of Department of Correction control and reviving a jail decommissioning process required by city law.

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New Rikers leadership earns praise, but violence persists, report says

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New Rikers leadership earns praise, but violence persists, report says

While the federal monitor tasked with tracking conditions on Rikers Island appears optimistic about the leadership of the two new officials in charge of the city’s jails, violence in the troubled complex remains high, the monitor said in a new report.

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Correction officers’ union challenges key hire by Rikers remediation manager

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Correction officers’ union challenges key hire by Rikers remediation manager

The powerful union representing correctional officers on Rikers Island this week asked a federal judge to "reassess" the recent hiring of an ex-Department of Correction investigator tapped by the remediation manager to reprise her role in the city’s jail complex.

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Rikers ‘deadlocking’ debate continues at oversight hearing

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Rikers ‘deadlocking’ debate continues at oversight hearing

The dispute over the existence of “deadlocking,” or the practice of locking up detainees on Rikers Island for weeks or months at a time in violation of Department of Correction policy, cutting them off from health care, services and other people in custody, continued during a jail oversight meeting on Tuesday.

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Two detainees die within a day on Rikers

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Two detainees die within a day on Rikers

Two detainees died on Rikers Island in quick succession of each other on Monday and Tuesday as the jail’s top officials were across the Atlantic, touring jails in Europe.

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Court-appointed manager to take over troubled Rikers misconduct investigations

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Court-appointed manager to take over troubled Rikers misconduct investigations

Investigations into alleged abuses by Rikers Island officers will no longer be handled by the Department of Correction, according to a new organizational structure that puts a court-appointed remediation manager in charge of probing misconduct inside the jails.

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City begins testing path to enact long-stalled solitary ban

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City begins testing path to enact long-stalled solitary ban

The city’s Department of Correction may soon begin to implement parts of a local law banning solitary confinement in the city’s jails, nearly two and a half years after the bill was first passed.

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