Multiple members of the city’s jail oversight board this week urged Mayor Eric Adams to stop relying on emergency executive orders to circumvent rules to ensure the safe housing of people behind bars. In November 2021, then-mayor Bill de Blasio first signed executive orders suspending multiple Board of Correction regulations, citing chaos brought on by […]
Rikers Island
Posted inRikers Island
Hundreds of Women File Rape Lawsuits Against City Jails
Inette Baez has held the secret of what happened to her on Rikers Island for nearly 20 years. She was serving an eight month-jail sentence inside the Rose M. Singer Center in 2004 when, she says, a correction officer repeatedly lured her into a massive freezer and forced her to perform oral sex and raped […]
Posted inMarijuana
Legal Budtender Is Home After Three Weeks in Rikers on Pot Charges
Jumal George, a budtender at Housing Works’ dispensary, was released from a Pennsylvania jail on Thursday evening. He had spent more than three weeks imprisoned on Rikers Island, in part because of an arrest warrant for out-of-state cannabis charges. George, 33, was arrested during a traffic stop on October 11 while driving home from his […]
Posted inMarijuana
A Budtender at NYC’s First Legal Pot Shop Is in Rikers on Pot Charges
An employee of the city’s first legal marijuana dispensary is being held on Rikers Island on a cannabis-related felony charge in a striking example of how pot, despite being legal in New York state, can still drag people into the criminal justice system as it remains illegal under federal law and those of several states. […]
Posted inJails
More than 15,000 Rikers Jail Video Visits Canceled Since 2020
The city Department of Correction has canceled 15,129 jail detainee video visits since its online system launched department-wide in 2020, straining relationships among loved ones, according to records obtained by THE CITY. The remote option for people to connect with those behind bars was launched during the pandemic, when in-person visits were blocked to prevent […]
Posted inRikers Island
New Council Bill Would Shine Light on Jail Deaths
The push for increased transparency behind bars comes months after the Department of Correction suddenly stopped notifying the media about fatal incidents in city jails.
Posted inJails
Eight Rikers Detainees Slashed While Shackled to ‘Restraint Desks’
Chaining people to desks for educational programs behind bars — in lieu of adequate staffing or training — actually leads to more violence, jail reform advocates say.
Posted inHealth and Hospitals
Legal Aid Sues to See Canceled Jail Medical Visits Info
The city’s Correctional Health Services is covering up for the Department of Correction’s “incompetence,” the public defenders say.
Posted inRikers Island
Demand Grows to Make Rikers Island Death Reports Public
Manhattan City Councilmember Carlina Rivera is among those pressing for transparency amid a record number of fatalities.
Posted inRikers Island
Medical Examiner Shows Key Information Missing From Rikers Report on 7th Death This Year
The medical examiner ruled Curtis Davis’ death a suicide by hanging, despite the initial internal report that said he was found unconscious on the floor.