Report raps jail care firm

THE CITY Department of Investigation has found a disturbing pattern of neglect by a firm the city pays to care for inmates at Rikers Island, the Daily News has learned.

A scathing report set to be released in the coming weeks details significant security and mental health care lapses by the Tennessee-based Corizon Correctional Services, a DOI official said. The lapses may have contributed to

inmate injuries and even deaths, the official added.

DOI also uncovered alarming gaps in Corizon’s criminal background checks of workers.

In recent weeks a Corizon records clerk was arrested when he was caught smuggling a straight razor into Rikers. Investigators from

the DOI ran his prints and found he’d done a 13-year stint in prison for kidnapping.

The clerk, whose name was not released, is the third Corizon worker busted within the past year. Two more face charges

for smuggling contraband.

Corizon has been awarded $367 million in contracts to run health clinics at Rikers since 2008. Monica Klein, a mayoral spokeswoman, said the city hasn’t decided whether to renew Corizon’s contract which expires at year’s end.