Stabbings are spiking at Rikers
It’s a bloodbath on Rikers Island.
The jail complex saw 419 slashings and stabbings of inmates and correction officers last year — a 1,097% increase from 2011, Department of Correction stats show.
In that same time, the inmate population fell by more than half, from 12,419 to 5,563.
This year is on course to be even bloodier, according to the data shared at a public DOC meeting last week.
By the end of April, 191 stabbings were recorded, said Board of Correction member Julio Medina. That’s on pace for 575 for the year, a 37% increase from 2021.
Among the victims were a Bloods gangster slashed in the face with a large kitchen knife in early April, and a correction officer who nearly lost his eye and ended up with eight stitches while breaking up a fight in March.
Experts say the gory onslaught is the result of violent felons making up the bulk of Rikers inmates as bail reform keeps low-level crooks out.
“There is no doubt that the persons now detained are, proportionally, a more concentrated group of serious and dangerous offenders,” former DOC Commissioner Martin Horn told The Post.
Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association President Benny Boscio Jr. blamed the jail’s staffing crisis.
“We did the numbers from January to April, and we’ve already lost 400 officers due to resignations and retirements. In the same period, only 75 recruits graduated from the academy,” he said.
An image provided by a correction source shows a chunk of plexiglass that an inmate honed into a knife. Another shows a blade jutting out of the hand of an officer who intervened in a fight.
Correction Commissioner Louis Molina blamed the de Blasio administration.
“The ineffective decisions of prior leaders of this city and this agency have crippled the department’s ability to effectively operate, and it has resulted in tragedies for officers and people in custody alike,” he said.