Jail boss’ rosy view of Rikers

VIOLENCE HAS finally started to ebb at problem-plagued Rikers Island, Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte claimed Monday.

For the first four months of this year, use of force by guards that caused serious injury dropped 50% compared with the same period last year, and use of force causing any injury is down 17%, Ponte testified to the City Council.

There were 17% fewer assaults on staffers, and 41% fewer assaults that seriously injured the employees.

But the number of stabbings and slashings has grown to 50 so far this year compared with 46 last year, a 9% increase — a stat Ponte did not mention in his testimony.

Total use of force, including incidents that did not injure the inmate, has remained flat.

“Serious violence is down,” Ponte said. “Our reforms are working.”

For the 2015 calendar year, use of force by guards causing a serious injury was down 24% compared with 2014 — but total use of force was up 18%.

There were 13% more assaults on staff overall, but 11% fewer that caused serious injuries and 4% fewer that caused any injuries.

Ponte ticked off the reductions in his testimony, but did not mention the categories where incidents climbed.

City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Queens) said the rosy stats are far different from figures the Council has had a chance to study, which cover a four-month period last summer and fall.

“The numbers that we actually have are quite different . . . . In every area of violent inmate-oninmate incidents we see a major increase,” she said. “So it’s hard to look at what you’re saying here in your testimony.”

Ponte insisted the violenceplagued jail complex is starting to turn around even as officials have reduced the use of solitary confinement, also known as punitive segregation.

The number of inmates held in solitary has dropped over the past two years from 600 to 163, a 73% decrease, he said.

The practice has been scrapped altogether for adolescents.

Mayor de Blasio’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year includes $170 million to build a new facility for adolescents outside Rikers, but Ponte said a spot to move them to hasn’t been chosen.

Serious violence is down. Our reforms are working. COMMISSIONER JOSEPH PONTE