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Guard use of force still the rule at Rikers: report

RIKERS ISLAND correction officers continue to be too rough with inmates who refuse orders or make threats, a federal monitoring group said Tuesday.

There’s an “ingrained propensity of staff to immediately default to force to manage any level of inmate threat or resistance,” the group said in its latest report on conditions at the city lockup.

There’s also an “absence of timely accountability for such misconduct,” it found.

The report, from an eightmember group overseeing court-ordered reforms at Rikers, said jail staff “relish confrontation” and too often “engender, nurture and encourage confrontation.”

Avoiding confrontation, the group said, “appears to be anathema to many supervisors and line staff.”

Advocates for inmates pointed to the findings as more proof that the city needs to shut down the sprawling jail complex.

“This report reaffirms that there is no saving or reforming Rikers Island,” said Glenn Martin, founder and president of JustLeadershipUSA and leader of the #CLOSErikers movement.

“It is, and always will ‘Torture Island,’ ” he added.

City Correction Commissioner Cynthia Brann said her department be, is complying with most of the requirements in the report “and is moving quickly to fix all other issues the monitor identifies.” She noted that the report found no lack of effort or resources in the department to enact the reforms.

Still, the 259-page report is filled with examples of correction officer abuses from Jan. 1 to June 30.

In April, a jail boss was heard on tape “exhorting officers in a crude and profane manner” to attack an inmate, even though the detainee was restrained and not resisting.

In June, there were at least 423 use-of-force cases, which included 100 against restrained inmates, at least 35 possible “head strikes” and 15 prohibited holds.

The report is the fourth broad review of the scandalscarred department by the oversight team.

The report found that: l Officers are too fast to aggressively force inmates to the floor. l Jail staff tasked with yanking inmates out of their cells approach the situation “at full speed and forcibly apply the (security) shield” even when inmates offer little or no pushback. l Officer reports detail when inmates break the rules but rarely include information about “inappropriate actions by staff that escalated the incident.” l A high number of captains are “frequently and repeatedly involved in problematic” use-offorce cases.