Rikers staff escapegoats
Well, at least one person got off the island.
A Rikers Island warden has been reassigned to Queens and six correction officers were suspended after an inmate managed two high-profile escape attempts since Thursday, according to sources and officials.
And while the personnel shake-up was going down, fence reinforcements were going up. Workers could be seen installing new fences and razor wire to scuttle future escape attempts.
Arthur Brown, 37, scaled fences in both his escape attempts on Sunday and last Thursday, according to officials.
“Maintaining safety and security is our top priority, and we are conducting a thorough internal investigation and will use every measure and tool available to maintain secure facilities,” Department of Correction spokesperson Peter Thorne said in a statement announcing the officers’ suspensions.
The names of the suspended correction officers had not been released as of late Monday.
Kisa Smalls, the warden of North Infirmary Command, where Brown made his Sunday escape attempt, will now be assigned to DOC headquarters in Queens, according to law-enforcement sources.
Elias Husamudeen, the head of the union that represents correction officers, placed blame for the escape attempts on inadequate fencing and said officers were being scapegoated.
“We will not allow them to scapegoat our members who did nothing wrong and who are now being blamed for their management failures,” Husamudeen said, calling for the resignation of DOC Commissioner Cynthia Brann and several of her deputies.
“Right now, the department is making substantial upgrades to the fences that surround some of the facilities on Rikers Island,” he added. “Correction officers aren’t responsible for the physical barriers that maintain security.”
A photo obtained by The Post shows workers on the island reinforcing razor-wire-covered fencing near a jail facility on the island Monday morning.
A department spokesperson said they will update the barriers “as needed” to ensure safety.
On Thursday, Brown, who is locked up for allegedly attacking two police officers, went unnoticed for close to 20 minutes after scaling a rec-yard fence and dashing out to the East River from the George R. Vierno Center, sources said.
A spokesperson for the correction officers union claimed the inmate had been “studying the inadequacies in the fencing” prior to the escape attempt.
Two K-9 officers caught him beyond a perimeter fence in New York Harbor but not “fully submerged,” according to the Bronx District Attorney’s Office.
On Sunday, Brown scaled fencing at the facility and made it onto the roof before being nabbed by correction officers and fastened to a basket-style stretcher, sources told The Post.
Brown will have restricted access to outdoor recreation time until he is no longer considered an escape risk, a DOC spokesperson said.