Brutality cases fuel debate over jail
Rikers Island closure sought
NEW YORK - The latest in a string of brutality cases against Rikers Island guards has added fuel to a growing debate on whether New York City’s notoriously violent jail complex has become so dysfunctional it should be shut down.
At least 35 staff members at Rikers have faced criminal charges in the past three years, including 13 for assault or attempted assault. Federal prosecutors also have charged more than a half dozen Rikers guards with violating inmates’ civil rights through excessive force, smuggling drugs and other charges since 2014.
“Rikers Island is one of these long-term injustices and abuses that every New Yorker should be outraged about,” said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. “The situation is intolerable.”
Inmate activists have for more than a year argued that shutting down the sprawling, 10-jail complex on the East River is the only solution for a cycle of abuses that include violence by guards and gang members, mistreatment of the mentally ill and juveniles and unjustly long detention for minor offenders.
“If you are a New Yorker who cares about the soul of the criminal justice system, you know that Rikers is the belly of the beast,” said Glenn Martin, founder of the nonprofit group Just Leadership USA, which seeks to decrease the number of Americans behind bars.
Among the other arguments for closing Rikers is that the island facility near La Guardia Airport — accessible only by a narrow bridge — is too isolated, cutting off inmates from the outside world in a way that hinders oversight and rehabilitation.
Daily populations at Rikers have recently been falling below the 15,000 capacity listed on a city website — averaging fewer than 10,000 — a trend city officials attribute to reducing detention for those charged with misdemeanor drug possession. Advocates say that makes it viable to dismantle Rikers and replace it with a combination of new and expanded existing jails in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. Cost estimates have reached as high as $10 billion.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has stuck to his position that reforms and improvements at Rikers are both the least costly and most practical approach.
A 2015 settlement of civil litigation over pervasive brutality at Rikers imposed various changes, including the addition of thousands of surveillance cameras, stricter policies on use of force and the appointment of a federal monitor to oversee conditions.