A ME$$ AT RIKERS
Handicapped inmates get $90G in suit
EIGHT DISABLED inmates once held on Rikers Island scored settlements totaling nearly $90,000 after charging that the jail was a filthy mess that didn’t properly accommodate the handicapped.
The longshot case was filed in 2010 by the inmates — one of them legally blind, others who use wheelchairs — without the assistance of a lawyer.
The handwritten documents allege dreadful conditions at Dormitory 3 in the North Infirmary Command at Rikers, which is dedicated to inmates with disabilities and other medical conditions.
“Mosquito infested also us paralysis (sic) inmates couldn’t use the rest room because on 6-2-10 until 6-3-10 (Northern Infirmary Command) didn’t have any catheterization tray for us paralysis inmates,” read the initial complaint written by Jose Morales on behalf of fellow inmates. Morales received $10,000. Inmate Brian Harrison recounted his own ordeal in filings in 2013.
“While coming out of the wheelchair to the bed . . . I could not make it to the bed I was injured in which my forehead had hit the corner of the bed in which also resulted in myself to receive 10 stitches to my forehead,” wrote Harrison, who received $15,000.
The suit charged that beds for partially paralyzed inmates lacked correct equipment and that bathrooms didn’t properly accommodate the disabled — violations, they said, of the Americans With Disabilities Act. The plaintiffs also said the jail was infested with rats, and that blind inmates were not properly supervised.
“It was in the city’s best interest to settle these cases, which involved several isolated incidents,” a Law Department spokesman said.
The settlement did not include a formal admission of wrongdoing. The allegations were never proven. Last year, the Manhattan firm Hughes Hubbard and Reed took up the case pro bono and negotiated with the city.
The settlements range from $1,200 to $16,000.
Last week, attorneys for the plaintiffs notified Manhattan Federal Court Judge Edgardo Ramos that one last inmate, Felipe Rivera Cruz, would affirm his settlement as soon as he can secure a notary public from behind bars.
“We are fully committed to providing full access and amenities for the disabled to our facilities,” a Department of Correction spokeswoman said.
The settlements come as the city continues negotiating reforms to the jail with Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
An update on those talks is scheduled for this week.