The federal oversight official tasked with fixing the failings of Rikers Island jail has written in his first report that a lot still needs to be done to fix the jail. Despite decades of litigation, reform efforts, and judicial intervention, the city still confines individuals awaiting trial in dismal conditions that manifestly violate the Constitution and would shock the conscience of any citizen who knew of them.
The federal oversight official tasked with fixing the failings of Rikers Island jail has written in his first report that a lot still needs to be done to fix the jail.
Despite decades of litigation, reform efforts, and judicial intervention, the city still confines individuals awaiting trial in dismal conditions that manifestly violate the Constitution and would shock the conscience of any citizen who knew of them. The Department of Correction (DOC) struggles to perform even the most basic correctional functions: staffing posts, securing housing units, and keeping staff and people in its custody safe from violence.
Funding priorities are misaligned, the physical infrastructure is crumbling, and despite a decade's worth of recommendations from court-appointed Rikers Monitor Steven Martin, DOC still operates without a cohesive strategy to address these systemic failures. The directives focus primarily on DOC using the next year to lay out specific plans and take foundational steps to prevent staff from acting violently towards inmates, fixing broken cell doors, increasing programming to support incarcerated people, improving data collection and ensuring there are people accountable for what's going on in the prison complex.
Staffing is one of the areas where improvement is most critical: mismanagement of staff is inextricably linked to high rates of force and violence in the jails. Rikers tends to escape accountability because so many city and state agencies have a hand in its operations, yet none take responsibility when things go wrong.
To help remedy this, DOC must submit a proposal for a redesigned Investigations, Intelligence, and Accountability Division, which is responsible for carrying out the majority of investigations in Rikers. By October, it must provide a proposal of resources and staffing needed. And, within a year, DOC must propose a training plan detailing all facets of investigative and intelligence training, including any needs for remedial training for existing investigators that Deml expects to have approved.
In terms of improving leadership, Deml directed DOC to create and implement a plan to restructure engagement between executive and facility-level leadership within the next year, so there aren't lapses in communication that result in safety issues. The court-appointed federal oversight official tasked with fixing the failings of Rikers Island jail has written in his first report that a lot still needs to be done to fix the jail.
The report highlights the need for the Department of Correction (DOC) to take foundational steps to prevent staff from acting violently towards inmates, fix broken cell doors, increase programming to support incarcerated people, improve data collection and ensure there are people accountable for what's going on in the prison complex. The report also highlights the need for the DOC to address the issue of staffing, which is critical to reducing force and violence in the jails.
The report concludes that reforming the jail system would be a years-long effort and that the official would continue making one-year plans as long as necessary. The directives focus primarily on DOC using the next year to lay out specific plans and take foundational steps to prevent staff from acting violently towards inmates, fixing broken cell doors, increasing programming to support incarcerated people, improving data collection and ensuring there are people accountable for what's going on in the prison complex.
The report highlights the need for the DOC to address the issue of staffing, which is critical to reducing force and violence in the jails. The report concludes that reforming the jail system would be a years-long effort and that the official would continue making one-year plans as long as necessary.
The Legal Aid Society commended the plan, stating that it recognizes the importance of promoting the dignity and well-being of incarcerated people and that it focuses on increasing both the volume and variety of programming. The City must commit to the expansion of community-based programming that the plan requires, and provide all resources necessary to achieve it as soon as possible
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