New York City’s correction officers union is warning its members not to speak with federal officials charged with monitoring violence at Rikers unless a union representative is present.
The Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, or COBA, recently filed a lawsuit against the city accusing the Department of Correction of sending officers “intimidating” communications that ordered people to subject themselves to questioning by the federal monitor without proper representation.
“Any topic the monitoring team seeks to discuss with you could lead to discipline,” the union warned its members in an Instagram post.
In 2015, a federal monitor was appointed to investigate and evaluate progress at New York City jails after a lawsuit over violence and excessive use of force by officers led to a consent decree that created the monitorship.
Scrutiny of the Rikers Island jail complex has intensified in recent months after a series of scathing court filings described escalating violence at the facility and correction officials hiding information about violent incidents, including deaths.
In June, the judge overseeing the monitorship filed an order requiring all Department of Correction staff be advised they must be “candid” and “forthright” with the monitor.
The department sent an email and letters to staff communicating the need to engage with the monitor transparently soon after. Those communications are now the subject of COBA’s lawsuit.
COBA alleges the email and letters violated members’ rights to union representation under the state’s Civil Service Law.
“DOC’s communications… conveniently omitted crucial details about their rights to union representation in an attempt to intimidate correction officers into waiving their representation rights,” COBA President Benny Boscio Jr. said in a written statement.
In response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for the city’s Law Department told Gothamist the union’s claims were “without merit,” adding the Department of Correction had “appropriately asked its employees to properly comply with court orders.”
The Department of Correction referred Gothamist to the Law Department for comment on active litigation.
Concerns about transparency of jail operations have hastened growing calls for a takeover, with the federal monitor, Steve Martin, stating in an August court filing that the Department of Correction failed to consult with him — as required by a consent decree — before changing its use-of-force policy.
The department is “attempting to limit the monitor’s access to information,” Martin wrote to the court.
Last month, the federal judge agreed to hear arguments for and against appointing a receiver to oversee the troubled jail system.
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