Rikers’ ‘last resort’
‘Federal control’ pitch
A push to put the city’s embattled jail system under a federal court’s control is a judicial tool of last resort — one that would give sweeping powers to an independent authority tasked with finally ending the violence on Rikers Island.
Previous attempts to fix the notorious lockup have failed miserably, Manhattan US Attorney Damien Williams said Tuesday in a legal filing which floated the pros- pect that “aggressive relief ” through a “federal receivership” could be needed.
“Receivership is a remedy of last resort,” said Hernandez Stroud, counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. “Professors call it the ‘nuclear option’ in terms of institutional reform and litigation because it’s the most . . . powerful tactic a judge can order in these sorts of cases.”
“Receivers” are typically unbiased experts, given sweeping powers by the judges who appoint them, including the same budgetary and hiring-and-firing authority that a mayor or commissioner would have.
They’re also provided separate budgets to hire staff and outside consultants to help ensure defendants — in this case the City of New York — comply with court orders.
Williams raised the idea of receivership in a letter to Manhattan federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who approved a landmark October 2015 settlement in which the city committed to far-reaching reforms at Rikers Island to resolve claims of correction officers using excessive force.
The settlement included appointing a federal monitor to help ensure the Department of Correction complies with the agreement.
However, monitors lack much of the authority of receivers.
Mayor Adams said in a statement Thursday that he believes his administration deserves a chance to fix Rikers. He said DOC Commissioner Louis Molina is “laying the groundwork for longterm change” and that jails under their watch have seen “reductions in use of force” on detainees and “assaults on staff ”
The issue of receivership will ultimately be decided by Swain, who ordered Molina to attend an April 26 conference.