The deaths came just a week after a judge gave New York City until the fall to come up with a plan for fixing Rikers to avoid a federal takeover. Source: New York Times
Posts published in “Rikers Island Prison Complex”
N.Y.C. Jail Officials Avert a Federal Takeover of Rikers Island
By Gotham Rex on May 24, 2022
At a hearing, a federal judge granted the officials more time to address rampant violence and disorder inside the city jail system. Source: New York Times
Rikers Island Faces Pressure to End Death and Disorder Crisis
By Gotham Rex on May 24, 2022
Under orders to draw up a turnaround plan or face a federal takeover, the New York City jails system still has failed to provide detainees with basic care. Source: New York Times
Judge Faults Medical Care for Detainees in Latest Sign of Rikers Crisis
By Gotham Rex on May 17, 2022
The ruling came the same day that city officials delivered a plan for potentially avoiding a federal takeover of the troubled jail complex. Source: New York Times
A Covid Vaccine Mandate for New York Schools? Not This Year.
By Gotham Rex on May 10, 2022
A bill to add the Covid vaccine to a list of mandated shots for schoolchildren is a hot potato, its sponsor said. Source: New York Times
Rikers Officers Lagged in Helping 3 Detainees Who Died, Report Finds
By Gotham Rex on May 9, 2022
In each case, fellow inmates struggled to help when jail officers did not, according to the Board of Correction, which expressed “extreme” concern in its report. Source: New York Times
Man, 25, Is the Fourth Inmate to Die at Rikers This Year
By Gotham Rex on May 8, 2022
Dashawn Carter was found hanging in his cell in an apparent suicide during a time of deepening crisis for the jail. Source: New York Times
Louis Molina’s In Charge of Fixing Rikers Island. His Plan Is Due in 11 Days.
By Gotham Rex on May 7, 2022
Louis A. Molina, the Department of Correction commissioner since only January, says he has a solution to a problem that has defied his predecessors. Source: New York Times
Rikers Chaos Could Lead to Federal Court Control, U.S. Attorney Says
By Gotham Rex on April 19, 2022
Damian Williams wrote that his office might have no choice but to seek “aggressive relief” for the serious problems at the jail. Source: New York Times
Rikers Still ‘Unstable and Unsafe’ Under New Jails Chief, Watchdog Says
By Gotham Rex on March 17, 2022
A federal monitor overseeing reforms at the troubled New York City jail complex said staffing problems and high rates of violence persist. Source: New York Times
50 Years Ago, James Brown Took an Unlikely Stage: Rikers Island
By Gotham Rex on March 15, 2022
The story of how the Godfather of Soul ended up performing at the New York jail involves a dogged Board of Correction employee who knitted her way to the musician’s attention. Source: New York Times
Unreported Rikers Island Beatings: ‘Disturbing and Unacceptable’
By Gotham Rex on March 8, 2022
Louis Molina, the correction commissioner, responded to a recent New York Times report that found serious injuries to at least two detainees were not reported. Source: New York Times
How Brutal Beatings on Rikers Island Were Hidden From Public View
By Gotham Rex on March 2, 2022
One man was paralyzed from the neck down. Another landed in a coma. Neither injury was documented properly in the New York City jail system awash in disorder. Source: New York Times
Medical Care at Rikers Is Delayed for Thousands, Records Show
By Gotham Rex on February 1, 2022
A court filing on Tuesday shed new light on the effect of the city jail system’s staffing crisis on health care, with missed appointments leading to severe health consequences. Source: New York Times
Jail Unions Gain a Powerful Supporter: Mayor Eric Adams
By Gotham Rex on January 14, 2022
Eric Adams has reversed some measures enacted to regain control over the crisis at Rikers Island, in an early victory for the correction officers’ unions. Source: New York Times