Despite seeing improvements during a recent visit to Rikers Island, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards says he believes no amount of refurbishment will be enough to justify keeping the troubled jail complex open – and that a federal takeover of the jail should remain on the table.
Two distinct populations on Rikers Island grew more than any other over the past decade – detainees diagnosed with mental health issues and those facing violent felony charges, a new report found.
Read MoreThe Adams administration late Monday announced that it planned to mostly restore nonprofit-provided programming for detainees on Rikers Island after the city attempted – and largely failed – to provide the programming itself following a budget cut ordered by the mayor last year.
Read MoreIn his first public comments since the Legal Aid Society officially asked a federal judge to strip control of Rikers Island away from the city, Mayor Eric Adams said that the troubled jail complex is better off in the city’s hands.
Read MoreAttorneys with the Legal Aid Society and prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York officially asked a federal judge on Friday to strip the city of its control over Rikers Island and hand the jail complex over to a federal authority.
Read MoreThe watchdog board charged with keeping tabs on the New York City Department of Correction will again have the ability to view surveillance footage from inside the city’s jails remotely after the agency settled a lawsuit late last week.
Read MoreThe union representing correctional officers working on Rikers Island sued the Department of Correction this week, alleging the agency illegally told officers to speak with the federal monitor responsible for tracking violence in the jail.
Read MoreFour years – as of Thursday, that’s exactly how long the city has to close its notorious jail complex on Rikers Island. Whether or not that deadline of Aug. 31, 2027 can be met by the city is another question entirely, and one whose answer is becoming increasingly unclear.
Read MoreLast week, good government group Citizens Union joined the a number of elected officials, advocates and others in calling for federal Judge Laura Swain to put the city’s notorious jail complex into a federal receivership, or a judicial order that could see the power to manage Rikers handed over to a court-appointed authority.
Read MoreFor the sixth time this year and the third time in as many weeks, a person in the Department of Correction’s custody has died. William Johnstone, 47, was found unresponsive in the cell he was being held in on Rikers Island around 1:50 p.m. on Saturday, according to the Department of Correction.
Read MoreRicky Howell, 60, died in Bellevue Hospital of a terminal illness on Thursday, July 6, only a couple of days after 40-year-old man became the fourth Rikers detainee to die this year.
Read MoreThe New York City Council Committee on Criminal Justice held a hearing to discuss the presence and prevalence of drugs in the city’s jails.
Read MoreDepartment of Corrections Commissioner Louis Molina is requesting permission to reduce out of cell time for a group of detainees by seven hours.
Read MoreThe city has yet to issue any updates on the transfer of Rikers Island facilities to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, after Mayor Eric Adams announced the July transfer would not happen.
Read MoreAmid the city’s heat wave, public defense attorneys are calling on the Department of Correction to better protect incarcerated individuals from the soaring temperatures.
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