ESCAPE FROM RIKERS Latest jail woe
A man escaped from his Rikers cell for nearly half a day with no one noticing — and now staffers at the beleaguered jail face discipline over the troubling breakdown of protocols, The Post has learned.
The inmate, Michael McKenna, went missing from his cell in the Anna M. Kross Center overnight Tuesday, jail sources and city Department of Correction officials said.
Correction officers had realized one of the prisoners had gone missing after their inmate count around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday came up short, sources said.
But they had no idea who wasn’t in their cell because the proper paperwork was missing, according to sources.
So, sources said, the staffers never even put out a red alert to lock down the jail and scramble officers to search — while the inmate, who was jailed back in July after an armed standoff with cops outside a Bronx precinct, wandered around the grounds.
It wasn’t until 10 hours later when McKenna was spotted in the parking lot of the Anna M. Kross Center at around 10:30 a.m.
Wednesday and taken into custody without incident, officials said.
A DOC spokesperson confirmed the shocking incident, telling The Post the “incident is under close, active investigation” and discipline for any negligence “will be aggressively pursued.”
The breakdown at Rikers is the latest example of the “systemic and deepseated” problems in the city jail system that have led to staffing shortages and an “ongoing humanitarian crisis” for inmates.
Correction Captains’ Association President Patrick Ferraiuolo said the botched handling of the escape was “part of the whole dysfunctional situation that’s going on on Rikers Island right now.”
“The facility wasn’t aware the inmate was missing in the first place,” said Ferraiuolo, adding that it was just happenstance that a captain spotted McKenna “walking alongside the road and attempting to walk through the gates.”
“He was walking towards the street that would lead to the bridge,” Ferraiuolo said.
“You don’t know what direction he would’ve went in at that point.”