The roadmap needs a driver
The 26-page action plan presented by the city’s Department of Correction to the federal monitor and judge overseeing the Rikers class-action lawsuit — a case first filed more than a decade ago to force the city to stop turning a blind eye to a culture of violence at the misbegotten jail complex — contains something rarely seen throughout this long, depressing saga: evidence of progress.
As Monitor Steve Martin lays out in his preamble analysis of the plan, both the blueprint and, more importantly, the actions already taken by Commissioner Louis Molina and his staff mark a break from years of failed past practice and thinking, with the new Adams administration having taken important steps like creating roles for civilian administrators from outside the department who will have real authority to implement safety and staffing reforms. Good.
The plan takes a no-nonsense approach, detailing dozens of actions with clear timelines and targets separated into sections including things like “security practices” and “staff accountability.” For example, it commits the department to, within 120 days of the order, “evaluate all uniform staff currently out on sick leave more than 30 days ... to determine whether the staff may return to work, should be separated from the Correction Department, if discipline may need to be imposed for any potential abuse, and/or if the conduct merits referral to the Department of Investigation,” a welcome effort to address the chronic absenteeism at the root of the jails’ failures.
The record so far is encouraging, but we can’t have trial and error here. Bureaucratic delays, which under the current setup are inevitable, will be measured in additional violence and death. The ultimate solution remains the same as it was before: a federal receivership, whereby an administrator fully outside the power structure and beyond the sway of the correction union can break through entrenched barriers, politics be damned.
We commend Commissioner Molina’s — and Mayor Adams’ — efforts, and have confidence in their ability to keep the ship going once it’s been righted. To get there, we still need a receiver.