County to settle $1M jail lawsuit

Inmates transferred from Rikers Island claimed abuse

Albany County and the city of New York have agreed to pay nearly $1 million to settle a federal lawsuit filed by four former Rikers Island inmates who claimed they were taunted, beaten, stomped and sexually assaulted by multiple officers when they were transferred to the county jail in Colonie last year.

The settlement payment, which will be divided between New York City and Albany County, is scheduled to be approved next week by the Albany County Legislature. The settlement, which is still being finalized, was reviewed behind closed doors last week by the Legislature’s Law Committee.

The county is moving forward with the settlement without admitting wrongdoing and despite an internal investigation that raised questions about whether the four men

had been subjected to the abuses they claimed. The state Commission of Correction reviewed the cases and was not able to sustain the allegations, according to sheriff’s officials.

A source close to the case said the county and city of New York opted to settle the case, in part, because of the anticipated high costs of fighting the federal lawsuit.

The men’s allegations included having batons and fingers shoved in their rectums by officers searching for contraband. According to the inmates’ accounts, the unprovoked attacks left them bloodied and severely injured.

An earlier Times Union review of jail records — including video surveillance footage, use-of-force reports, medical summaries, and time-stamped photographs obtained through Freedom of Information Law requests — cast doubt on whether the inmates were subjected to the torture and other civil rights violations that they claim took place within minutes of their arrival at the jail.

But their attorneys said that hospital reports and witness accounts — including from the mother of an inmate who visited him and saw his injuries — offset camera footage and photographs that did not show the severe facial injuries they claimed to have suffered following the physical encounters with guards.

The four men who filed the lawsuit — Davon Washington, Steven Espinal, Pariis Tillery and an unidentified “John Doe” — were among 24 Rikers inmates who were transferred to the Colonie jail last year. Ten of those inmates, including three of the men who filed the lawsuit, arrived at the jail with makeshift razor weapons hidden in their rectums, according to jail records.

Several of the inmates were sent to the upstate jail because they were accused of violence at Rikers or other jails, including videotaped attacks that critically injured downstate jail officers.

Albany County sheriff’s officials have not disputed that physical force was used but said the officers’ use of Tasers and “hand strikes” was justified when the inmates refused orders or allegedly attacked and spit at them.

Sheriff Craig Apple declined to comment on Sunday, citing the pending settlement.

Attorneys for the men earlier this year said the jail records support the men’s account of guards taunting them to fight and then pummeling them in nearly identical scenarios as they arrived at the jail. They contended the violence was directed by top officials at the jail, who records and camera footage showed were present when the physical force was used.

Steven H. Goldman, one of several New York City attorneys for the men, said the abusive behavior appeared to be “systemic.” Goldman could not immediately reached for comment on Sunday.

Officers at the county facility have not faced similar allegations from inmates other than the group transferred from Rikers Island, according to a review of legal claims dating back years.

Attorneys for the men who filed the lawsuit allege they were transferred to Albany County to get around the regulations limiting solitary confinement at the New York City jail.

In Albany County, the jail has “segregated” units where the Rikers’ detainees and other inmates who are deemed dangerous are held in cells for 23 hours per day, often for months. The four plaintiffs contend Albany County’s segregated units are identical to solitary confinement.

Espinal was sent to the jail in Colonie on Feb. 13, 2018, two days after he was captured on video leading a gang-related assault on a Rikers’ jail officer. Authorities said the assault, which resulted in the officer suffering a spinal fracture, was retaliation because the officer had issued Espinal a ticket for a violation a few days earlier.

For that reason, New York City officials have indicated their settlement payment will not directly compensate Espinal, according to sources briefed on the negotiations.