| On Rikers
Island Crisis SDNY Prepares For
Corrections Honchos amid Bid to Federalize
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Nov 16 –
Amid the crisis at New York
City's Rikers Island, the NYC
Commission of Corrections has
been summoned to a November
17, 2022 in-person hearing on
a request to Federalize the
facility.
The day before
the hearing, Inner City Press
which is covering the case was
repeatedly asked about the
logistics, and about how many
people the Department of
Corrections might be
bringing. The order for
the hearing foresees an
overflow courtroom:
" a conference in
this matter is scheduled to
occur on November 17, 2022, at
2:30 p.m., as an in-person
conference in Courtroom 17C of
the Daniel Patrick Moynihan
U.S. Courthouse at 500 Pearl
Street, NY, NY. In order to
guarantee sufficient public
access to the conference,
Courtroom 15A will be made
available as an overflow
courtroom... The Commissioner
of the New York City
Department of Correction is
hereby directed to attend the
conference along with such
members of his leadership team
as may be necessary to
facilitate efficient and
meaningful discussion and
resolution of issues raised.
Additional representatives of
the parties and the Monitoring
Team may also attend the
conference and be called upon
as necessary....the Court is
concerned about prolonged
pretrial stays of incarcerated
individuals at Rikers. SO
ORDERED. " Inner City
Press will be there. Watch
this site.
Back on April 26
a conference took place
between 2 pm and 4:15 pm - but
by video. Inner City Press
live tweeted it here:
SDNY Chief Judge
Swain: This hearing is to give
the parties a change to
address the conditions.
NYC Commissioner
Louis Molina is here, as
ordered.
Judge
Swain: In response to the
ongoing crisis at Rikers
Island, we had two emergency
meetings in 2021. Now this.
Judge
Swain: The Monitoring Team
cites what it calls patently
unsafe conditions in the jail.
They say with each leadership
change, the Department starts
at zero. We are six years into
the effort to make Rikers
safe.
Judge Swain:
Every single day people are in
danger - people who are
detained, and people who are
employed. Let's hear from the
monitor.
Monitor: My name
in Steve Martin. On March 16
we filed a report on a
troubling and patently unsafe
jail. Monitor Martin: The only
way for the City to maintain
management of the jail is to
immediately implement the
Monitoring Team's
recommendations. There are
5000 detainees and 7000 staff.
Action is required.
Deputy
Monitor: We recommend cutting
the red tape, the morass of
convoluted bureaucracy. The
City must take action to
support the agency.
Commissioner Molina: Let me
tell you about myself. I aim
to create an atmosphere of
discipline.
Commisisoner
Molina: The previous
Administration was unwilling
to use its authority. With the
support of Mayor Adams, we
have shifted five of eight
facilities to eight hour
shifts.
Judge Swain: So
you are allowing in, with non
profits, people who were
previously in prison?
Commissioner Molina: Yes. As
mentors and navigators.
Plaintiffs' /
prisoners' lawyer: In 2022
what has transpired constrains
optimism. It's too little too
late.
Plaintiff's /
prisoners' lawyer: A
receivership option is the
table. We need to break the
stalemate.
A problem
is diagnosed: the most senior
Dept of Corrections staff are
able to circumvent assignment
to housing areas. Labor rules
are blamed. "There are 100s of
staff on extended sick leave
who can't be assigned to
housing area. What is the City
going to do?"
Judge
Swain: This plan you keep
referring to, I'd like to have
it some days before the next
conference.
Judge Swain: So
the plan is due by May 17 at 3
pm, you then meet and confer
and we'll have the next
conference on May 24 from 2:30
to 4 pm. We are adjourned
The case is Nunez
v. N.Y.C. Department of
Correction, et al., 11-cv-5845
(Swain)
***
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