Staffing woes continue to stall opening of completed Bellevue jail ward

Staffing woes continue to stall opening of completed Bellevue jail ward

The city still doesn’t have a timeline to open an already-constructed hospital jail ward meant to hold detainees with serious physical illness, despite new leadership in City Hall and the Department of Correction, who say they are fully committed to reversing the massive delay.

Read More

Rikers remediation manager expected to cost city nearly $10 million next year

Rikers remediation manager expected to cost city nearly $10 million next year

The court-appointed remediation manager responsible for addressing the deeply rooted dysfunction and violence on Rikers Island is expected to cost taxpayers nearly $10 million for his first full year of work.

Read More

Library reopens at Rikers women’s jail after overcrowding forced closure

Library reopens at Rikers women’s jail after overcrowding forced closure

A library at the women’s jail on Rikers Island reopened this week after the resource had been shut down for nearly a year as correction officials struggled to manage a swelling jail population caused by a state prison staffing crisis.

Read More

Rikers’ ‘watershed moment’: New DOC commissioner on reform, safety, and the future of the city’s jails

Rikers’ ‘watershed moment’: New DOC commissioner on reform, safety, and the future of the city’s jails

Stanley Richards, the new DOC commissioner, sat down with the Eagle to discuss the critical moment the city, the DOC and its jails are in, as well as his philosophical approach to leading the department, how he’ll measure his performance, how he’ll address the growing number of deaths in the jails last year, and more.

Read More

Federal judge appoints former Vermont DOC boss to take over Rikers Island

Federal judge appoints former Vermont DOC boss to take over Rikers Island

After more than a decade of failed reforms, mounting deaths, and repeated warnings from the courts, a federal judge on Tuesday took the extraordinary step of wresting control of New York City’s jail system from City Hall, appointing a former CIA agent and correctional expert to assume sweeping authority over Rikers Island and the Department of Correction.

Read More

Mamdani renews long-standing Rikers emergency order, vows to reform jails

Mamdani renews long-standing Rikers emergency order, vows to reform jails

Mayor Zohran Mamdani late Monday renewed a long-running state of emergency on Rikers Island, signing an executive order he acknowledged would prolong a controversial legal workaround used by his predecessor for years to skirt rules dictating how the city should treat detainees.

Read More

Federal judge blocks solitary confinement ban from taking effect on Rikers

Federal judge blocks solitary confinement ban from taking effect on Rikers

A federal judge last week said the city was barred from fully implementing a local law banning solitary confinement on Rikers Island, several days after a state judge said Mayor Eric Adams’ efforts to prevent the law from taking effect were illegal.

Read More