City jail panel nixes meet, to seek safety fix

IN AN unprecedented move, the city’s jail oversight board canceled a regular meeting after a correction officer’s spine was fractured in a stunning attack by five Rikers Island inmates.

The city’s Board of Correction, which meets publicly nine times a year, has been repeatedly criticized as too inmate-friendly by the union representing jail officers.

On Monday, the board said it didn’t have any pressing votes scheduled for its Tuesday meeting. Instead, it said it wanted to use the time to meet with jail brass and the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association “and other stakeholders to formulate a plan to address the serious safety and violence issues at Rikers that require immediate attention.”

Elias Husamudeen, president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, said the union was planning to have more than 100 members protest at that meeting.

“They knew we were coming,” he asserted.

The labor leader also contended that the mayor didn’t want any negative attention during Mayor de Blasio’s scheduled State of the City address on Tuesday.

The union refuses to meet with the board unless the gathering is open to the public, he added.

On Saturday, inmate Steven Espinal punched Correction Officer Jean Souffrant in the face inside the George Motchan Detention Center. Video showed that he was joined by four other alleged gang members during the attack.