New York Daily News

Teens stay put in city lockups

- BY REUVEN BLAU

A legal decision on a labor dispute issued by a Queens judge on Monday will likely mean the city will miss its deadline to move dozens of troubled teens out of city jails and into a juvenile facility by the end of the month.

The city is required to transfer 16- and 17-year-old inmates to the Horizon Juvenile Center in the Bronx by Oct. 1 as part of the state’s Raise the Age legislatio­n.

It planned to use some 300 correction officers to staff the Horizon Center, along with another 200 new employees hired by the city’s Administra­tion for Children’s Services.

But a trio of correction unions sued over an ACS requiremen­t that their members — along with the new hires — fill out a questionna­ire and sign paperwork they deemed invasive and overly restrictiv­e.

The unions argued that the questionna­ire could land their members on a potential child abuse registry list if they are involved in a use-of-force incident with the teens while patrolling the juvenile center.

Queens Supreme Court Judge Joseph Esposito agreed to issue a temporary restrainin­g order on the questionna­ire until a hearing on Oct. 1 — which the unions say will likely delay the “Raise the Age” timeline.

“We will appeal this in court, where we successful­ly fought a similar order this summer, and we will keep fighting the unions’ misguided attempts to deter us from meeting the deadline,” said mayoral spokeswoma­n Natalie Grybauskas.

The correction unions initially filed a suit in May arguing that their members aren’t trained to oversee and assist in providing therapy to young offenders.

Judge Esposito initially issued a temporary restrainin­g order in that case. But he later ruled that the unions failed to demonstrat­e how the transfers would totally change the officers’ job duties.

This latest lawsuit by the unions is an amended version of that May case.

In a rare display of unity between correction unions and inmate advocates, the jail reform groups are also against deploying correction officers to the new youth facility in Mott Haven. They are worried that officers will be too quick to use force with teens who act out.

 ?? AP ?? A judge’s ruling in a correction officer labor dispute has delayed the Raise the Age program, which calls for teen inmates to be moved from Rikers Island to a facility for juveniles.
AP A judge’s ruling in a correction officer labor dispute has delayed the Raise the Age program, which calls for teen inmates to be moved from Rikers Island to a facility for juveniles.

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