Complaints against jail staff, docs hit 29,000

THE NUMBER of 311 complaints filed by inmates or their loved ones against abusive officers or for shoddy medical care has nearly doubled, a new report finds.

Those grievances have gone up by 49%, from 19,971 in 2016, to 29,751 in 2017, according to a Board of Correction review released Tuesday.

“We find a system that despite a few improvements in recent years has major structural problems, including a lack of critical policy for responding to tens of thousands of 311 calls each year,” said Martha King, the board’s executive director.

Many of the complaints are never addressed, jail insiders say.

“Too frequently people tell us stories of calling 311 or filing a grievance about a matter personal and important to them and never receiving a response,” King said.

The inmate gripes must fit into 29 grievance categories related to their incarceration to be addressed by correction staff.

Complaints to 311 by detainees are forwarded to the department’s Office of Constituent and Grievance Services. Inmate grievances tied to poor medical care are sent to the city’s Correctional Health Services.

Most of the complaints fall into five categories: staff, employment workload and payment, financial account, jail time calculations, and personal property.

The report recommended the department develop a written policy that clarifies how complaints to 311 interact with the department’s internal grievance system. The policy should also make sure that all the complaints get some kind of response, the report suggested.

The board’s report follows a similar 2016 review that found major flaws with the grievance system. As a result of that review, the department hired six “grievance coordinators.” Those coordinators are using tablets at two facilities on Rikers Island to take complaints directly from inmates.