The City has reached a settlement over the class-action lawsuit championed by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara over the deplorable conditions at Rikers Island. The agreement will lead to several reforms, including the instatement of a federal monitor over the Department of Corrections. From the Observer: “I have repeatedly made clear our unwavering commitment to enduring […]
Carlos Montero was 17 when he was arrested for his alleged involvement in a Washington Heights murder on October 23, 2008. He has been awaiting trial at Rikers Island ever since, a New York Post investigation finds. Experts say that his detainment is unquestionably unconstitutional. Prosecutors say Montero was with Jairo Peralta and Diangelo Enriquez […]
Two women who were incarcerated at Rikers Island’s Rose M. Singer Center, the complex’s women’s jail, have filed a horrifying class action suit against the City of New York alleging that they were repeatedly raped and sexually abused by a corrections officer named Benny Santiago. The lawsuit, according to Capital New York, was filed in […]
The New Yorker has released 6 minutes of security camera footage from inside Rikers, giving the public a rare and disturbing glimpse into the prison’s “deep-seated culture of violence,” as a report by the United States attorney in Manhattan called it. The video shows two incidents that happened to Kalief Browder, who was arrested in […]
Ramsey Orta, the 23-year-old Staten Island man who recorded video of the takedown of Eric Garner that led to demonstrations for justice in New York and elsewhere, has been locked up at Rikers Island since February on drug charges unrelated to the Garner incident. He was also arrested for gun possession in August. A GoFundMe […]
The city has paid a $300,000 settlement to the family of a now-deceased Rikers Island inmate who was paralyzed from the waist down after doctors failed to adequately treat his severe fungal infection, DNAInfo reports. Jose Ferrer, who died in 2010, was incarcerated at Rikers Island in August 2008 for failing to complete a drug […]
Medical negligence is a huge problem at Rikers Island and New York City Council members are finally acknowledging it. At a criminal justice and Department of Health City Council hearing on Tuesday, council members slammed the private medical provider, Corizon, for its treatment of inmates at Rikers. The Observer reports: “‘The allegations that have mounted […]
Rikers Island: It’s New York City’s own Alcatraz-by-the-airport, with a storied and sordid history to match. Named one of America’s 10 worst penal institutions by Mother Jones, the medieval conditions in the jails on Rikers have drawn much-needed attention from the press, from the mayor’s office, and from federal authorities. Earlier this month, Mayor de […]
Just months after the Department of Investigation showed how easy it is to get drugs, razor blades, and vodka into Rikers, the New York Daily News reports that a visitor made it past “initial screening” with a 12.5-inch butcher knife. The knife was discovered later “in a secret compartment on the side of his knapsack.” […]
According to internal documents obtained by the Daily News, over 1,000 — ONE THOUSAND! — corrections officers took a sick day or just didn’t show up to work at Rikers Island during that hyped up snowstorm on January 27th: The Correction Department force of about 3,000 officers scheduled that day was stretched dangerously thin, department […]
