Detainee diagnosed with cancer dies in DOC custody
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Ricky 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 MoreVermin, dirt and mold: New report shows continued deterioration on Rikers
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A new report from a court-appointed monitor found that conditions inside New York City’s jails were generally in a state of deterioration during the first four months of the year.
Read MoreCouncil calls on mayor to increase funds for public defenders
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With the deadline for the city’s budget fast approaching, over half of the City Council is calling on the mayor to up funding for public defenders who contract with the city and provide free legal services to New Yorkers.
Read MoreRikers receivership process may begin as soon as late summer, judge says
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A federal judge said Tuesday that her confidence in the Department of Correction’s ability and commitment to reform troubled Rikers Island has been “shaken” and that she’s open to hearing arguments about why the jail should be handed over to a federal receiver.
Read MoreLander asks city to call on courts to slow down eviction cases
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With new leadership at the top of the state’s courts, New York City Comptroller Brad Lander is calling on the Adams administration to join him in his call for the courts to slow the pace of eviction cases in order to ease the demand on the city’s struggling Right to Counsel program.
Read MoreDespite wrongful conviction ruling, Queens DA refuses to drop 30-year-old murder case
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Michael Robison was found by appellate court to have been wrongfully convicted of the 1993 murder of his estranged wife. But despite the ruling, Robinson’s claims of innocence, his completed sentence and newly-discovered DNA evidence, the Queens DA is attempting to reverse the appellate court’s decision and get the case kicked up to the Court of Appeals.
Read MoreQueens DA delays decision to retry wrongly convicted Queens man or dismiss case
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Nearly 30 years after being convicted of a murder he says he didn’t commit, Michael Robinson had a chance to once and for all clear his name this week. But the Queens district attorney’s office said they weren’t quite ready to do so.
Read MoreCouncil proposes more funds for legal services
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Leadership of the New York City Council and its budget negotiating team proposed boosting funding for legal services providers by $195 million on Monday.
Read More'A long journey': Appellate court overturns Queens man’s 30-year-old murder conviction
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Three decades after Michael Robinson was arrested for a Queens murder he says he didn’t commit, an appellate court overturned his conviction. He now waits for the Queens district attorney to decide whether or not to retry him or to clear his name once and for all.
Read MoreQueens public defenders walk out amid contract negations with Legal Aid Society
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“It's really disgusting that we're even being put in this situation, to be always trying to survive, scraping by with a law degree and with the amount of experience that we have,” said one Legal Aid Society attorney. Contract negotiations between the attorneys’ union and the Legal Aid Society have been ongoing for seven months.
Read MoreDOC fails to track detainee intake process, attorneys claim
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“That should be infuriating to everyone – I can't even tell you reliably how long people are in these disgusting cells that lack very basic services.”
Read MoreCity’s failure to get detainees to doctors continues, attys say
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The city’s Department of Correction has again been accused of not providing medical care to detainees after three law firms representing the incarcerated population on Rikers Island filed a motion to have a judge hold the agency in contempt for skirting its mandated duties.
Read MoreLegal Aid calls on Hochul to act on clemency promise
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The Legal Aid Society is calling on Governor Kathy Hochul to make good on a series of clemency reforms she promised a year ago. As the Eagle has reported throughout the year, those reforms have been slow to come, though progress is being made.
Read MorePublic defenders say Queens DA’s evidence sharing practices violate spirit of discovery reform
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The Legal Aid Society says that in the nearly three years since the state’s discovery reform laws went into effect, the Queens district attorney’s office has yet to create a logical and organized way to share evidence with criminal defense attorneys.
Read MoreJudge stops federal Rikers takeover – for now
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A federal judge ruled Thursday that it is premature to take control of the Rikers Island jail complex away from New York City and hand it over to a federal receiver.
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