On Friday, the Legal Aid Society kicked off arguments in what may be the most high-stakes decision to hit New York City’s jails in decades: whether control of the jails should be wrested from the city and given to a federal receiver who would have far-reaching powers to make the facilities safer for detainees and staff.
The 106-page filing is the first step in a legal process, with U.S. judge Laura Swain set to make the final decision on whether receivership is the right move and what it would look like.
Here’s a primer on what’s happening.
How did we get here?
Eight years ago, NYC’s jails were put under a federal monitor in a legal agreement after detainees sued the city over high levels of violence and frequent use of force by correction officers against incarcerated people.
Since then, the violence and officers’ use of force has “unimaginably” worsened, and someone outside city government is now needed to reform the jails, said Mary Lynne Werlwas, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society’s Prisoners’ Rights Project.
“It is an extraordinary governance failure and a human rights violation in this country that should bring shame to New York City,” she told Gothamist last week.
The federal monitor has filed 50 reports warning of the mounting danger, she said. In his October report, the monitor said a “pervasive, imminent risk of harm” to detainees and staff characterizes NYC’s jails.
What was in the Legal Aid motion?
The motion argues the city has failed to follow court orders to make the jails safer, and includes five affidavits from people recently or currently detained by the city’s Department of Correction whose stories show they were harmed in custody.
One affidavit is signed with a shaky “X” by Carlton James, who held a pen in his mouth to sign from his Bellevue Hospital bed, because he no longer can use his limbs, he stated.
James has been in the hospital since May 11, when he says city correction officers bound his hands and feet and tackled him, slamming his head on a bench-like structure. The incident was captured on video and reviewed by the federal monitor, according to the Nov. 10 affidavit. James said doctors told him his spinal cord was injured.
“A feeding tube was placed,” he said. “I was on a ventilator. I now have quadriplegia and have no use of my limbs.”
The affidavits describe other violent incidents, including a 20-year-old being followed into his cell by detainees who slashed his torso, neck and ear with a razorblade and plexiglass knives and an officer punching a restrained detainee twice in the face. A detainee with severe asthma said he was pepper sprayed for no reason.
NYC correction officers frequently use head strikes to restrain detainees, Legal Aid’s motion says.
Nine people have died in DOC custody so far this year. A total of 19 people died last year, the highest death rate in NYC jails in more than 25 years.
Last week, Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, submitted a letter supporting the motion. The Department of Justice held off on supporting receivership last year because it wanted to give Mayor Eric Adams’ administration a chance to reform the jail system, Williams wrote, but the DOJ has since lost faith in that possibility.
“The government acknowledges that the Department of Justice has sought this type of equitable relief in only a handful of corrections cases and under exceptional circumstances,” Williams wrote, adding “those circumstances exist here.”
What does the Adams administration say?
The Adams administration doesn’t believe receivership will fix the city’s jails, NYC Law Department spokesperson Nicholas Paolucci said in a statement. He said the city has made progress on addressing the “deeply rooted” problems at the Rikers Island jail complex and plans to continue doing so.
DOC Commissioner Louis Molina — who is soon to leave the department for a job at City Hall — says his team has brought the DOC back from the “brink of collapse” since he started in January 2022.
Molina has cited accomplishments including a lower number of fires in city jails and a higher rate of detainees brought to court on time. He also has said he reduced staff absenteeism by more than 70%.
But jail slashings and stabbings have increased since 2021 and more than tripled since 2019, according to data in annual Mayor’s Management Reports. The violence rate among detainees is at its second-highest level in more than a decade, the reports show.
Molina says his team has decreased the number of instances where officers use force on detainees, from 7,506 in fiscal year 2021 to 7,000 in 2023. But over the last three years, the overall number of such incidents has been at its highest level in 20 years.
Werlwas of the Legal Aid Society said the two mayoral administrations and four correction commissioners in charge of Rikers over the last eight years have all failed to make the jails safe through reforms.
How would receivership work?
It’s up to Swain to decide what federal receivership would look like for Rikers Island, if she orders it at all.
The Legal Aid Society has proposed the court find and appoint an independent party with the authority to take “all necessary steps” to make Rikers safe.
This would include the power to change safety and security policies; investigate and discipline correction officers who improperly use force against detainees; decide how to deploy officers in housing areas; hire and promote staff; and buy items to enhance security.
City jails unions have blocked decisions that could have made Rikers safer over the last eight years, Legal Aid’s motion says. A receiver could also petition the court to change labor agreements if they prevented compliance with court-ordered safety and security measures, according to Werlwas.
Under the organization’s proposal, there would still be a DOC commissioner and the department would continue to run the jails outside the scope of safety and security, “such as [by] maintaining the facilities and keeping the lights on and providing school programs and opportunities for visiting,” Werlwas said.
She added that Swain would decide who pays for the receiver and how, and that in other jail receiverships, correction departments continue to pay their bills.
A receiver would report only to the court and would be “insulated” from political pressures, according to Williams, the U.S. attorney.
What’s next?
The city is expected to file a response to Legal Aid’s motion to appoint a receiver by January 2024. The organization will then respond to that filing by February, allowing Swain to determine the next steps.
The judge does not have a fixed deadline to make a decision on receivership.
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