Tag: JAIL
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 […]
A Pratt student’s sketch led to the arrest of an ex-con who was violating the terms of his probation. The New York Daily News reports that a 21-year-old woman noticed an older man, Christopher Thomas, lurking the hallways of Pratt last Thursday where he allegedly exposed himself and masturbated. The woman drew a quick sketch […]
A report by the New York State Commission of Correction has urged the Justice Department to investigate possible civil rights violations in the death of a Rikers inmate, which resulted from “gross incompetence,” reports the New York Times. It is the latest damning report in a series that have, over the past six months, detailed […]
A new report by the Department of Investigation has uncovered yet more dysfunction at the troubled Rikers Island prison. The New York Times reports that more than a third of the 153 recently hired corrections officers “had problems that either should have disqualified them or needed further scrutiny” during the application process. The “red flags” […]
In a unanimous decision of 7-0, the New York City Board of Corrections has approved a policy change to end solitary confinement for inmates ages 21 and under. This comes on the heels of the decision to end the practice for 16 and 17-year-old inmates back in September. Prior to Tuesday’s decision, the De Blasio administration had […]
On Wednesday, a jury found former Rikers captain Terrence Pendergrass guilty of a civil rights violation in the death of an inmate two years ago. The New York Times reports that Pendergrass is the first officer to be tried for such a crime “in more than a decade.” He may serve up to 10 years […]
Mayor Bill de Blasio has realized just how messed up things are at Rikers Island, and has vowed to make prison reform “a top priority,” reports the New York Times. De Blasio, speaking at a news conference on Thursday, remarked that prisoners released from Rikers exit “more broken than when they came in,” and concluded […]
A new report (PDF) released by the Department of Investigation — an NYC agency that vows to “get the worms out of the Big Apple” — reveals that one of its investigators was able to smuggle various types of illegal contraband into the jails at Rikers Island. The New York Times reports that the investigator […]
According to an internal memo, the New York City Correction Department will stop putting 16- and 17-year-old inmates into solitary confinement by the end of 2014, the New York Times reports. There are currently 51 adolescents in solitary confinement at Rikers Island, where it is used as “a primary form of punishment” of teens. In the memo dated September 25th, the correction […]
If you needed proof that New York’s jail system is rotten to the core, the New York Times has just obtained a confidential report which reveals edits made to a Rikers Island audit back in 2011. It proves that, contrary to the reports at the time, violence in the prison hadn’t actually decreased. Instead, data was manipulated, tracks were covered […]
