A federal judge has directed New York City officials to work on a plan for a possible federal takeover of Rikers Island jail. U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain said Wednesday that she will also rule later on whether to hold the city in contempt of court orders mandating reforms at the troubled jail complex.
People hold a rally against Rikers Island jail complex outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024 in New York. FILE - The Rikers Island jail complex is shown in the Bronx borough of New York, on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. People hold a rally against Rikers Island jail complex outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024 in New York. People hold a rally against Rikers Island jail complex outside Manhattan Criminal Court on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024 in New York.
The judge made the declarations after hearing two hours of arguments from lawyers for the city, federal government and inmate advocates.Women’s only track meet in NYC features Olympic champs, musicians and lucrative prize moneyJeffrey Powell, a lawyer with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, argued the city should be held in contempt because Rikers Island is “more violent and less safe” than it was when court ordered reforms were imposed nearly a decade ago in 2015.
But Alan Scheiner, a lawyer for the city, disputed the notion that incidents of violence and abuse are on the rise, saying there have been marked improvements at the jail since Lynelle Maginley-Liddie took over as commissioner of the city Department of Correction last December. “We’ve been here before,” she said at one point, echoing arguments from lawyers for the federal government and inmate advocates. “We’ve seen the positive signs and then the backsliding.”
The case, which the U.S. Department of Justice later joined, eventually led to a 2015 consent decree ordering significant changes at the city jails and the appointment of a federal monitor to oversee their implementation.
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