Gang Violence at Rikers Seizes Spotlight During Guards’ Trial in ’12 Beating
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Version 0 of 1. The defendants are nine New York City correction officers who have been charged in connection with the brutal beating of an inmate at the Rikers Island jail complex. But like a bit player who steals the show, the notorious Bloods street gang has drawn much of the focus in the officers’ trial, in State Supreme Court in the Bronx. The inmate, Jahmal Lightfoot, who was beaten in July 2012, was associated with the Bloods and jailed alongside other members in an area that was known as a Bloods stronghold. The Bloods and its various subgroups have emerged as some of the largest and most violent of the gangs that thrive behind the walls of Rikers, according to law enforcement officials and others familiar with the jail. These sources said the Bloods, along with the Crips, the Latin Kings, the Trinitarios and many lesser known groups, pose a growing threat to security at the jail, where they have incited violence among inmates and run an underground network of drug dealing and other illicit activities both on and off the island. The reach of some gangs has extended to correction officers, some of whom have been recruited to smuggle contraband into the jail for inmates in exchange for bribes or other benefits, law enforcement officials said. A two-year investigation of corruption at Rikers Island, led by the city’s Investigation Department, has resulted in the arrest of 31 correction officers and staff members, some on suspicion of gang-related crimes. The most recent arrests include those of two officers who were accused of smuggling in scalpels and drugs as part of an operation that city investigators said was run mainly by three subgroups of the Bloods — the Blood Hound Brims, Gorilla Stones and Mac Ballas. “Gang activity at Rikers is a significant problem,” said Mark G. Peters, the commissioner of the Investigation Department, which, along with the Bronx district attorney’s office, has led the inquiry at Rikers. “It is central not only to some of the violence we’re seeing, but also to some of the smuggling operations and corruption.” Darcel D. Clark, the Bronx district attorney, who has made prosecuting crimes at Rikers a priority, said she was establishing a prosecution bureau on the island, in part to gather intelligence more quickly on criminal activity by gangs. “Rikers Island is the hub of criminal networks,” Ms. Clark said. “Our investigations into violent gangs have uncovered murder conspiracies emanating from inside and extending well beyond the walls of Rikers. All too often, inmates successfully interfere with witness cooperation from inside jail, and a lot of the gang leaders continue to run their organizations from inside. Jail walls crumble away when it comes to these types of crimes because of the hold that the gangs have over our jails.” Across the nation, jails and prisons have struggled to control gangs that many correction officials and gang experts say have grown bigger, stronger and more violent. “They’re all over,” said Daniel B. Vasquez, a correction consultant who was a warden at San Quentin State Prison in California for 10 years. “It’s a serious problem for the officers and administrators to try to manage these prisons with so many gang members.” In New York, gangs have fueled an increase in violence at the city’s jails. In the 2015 fiscal year, there were 108 stabbings and slashings of inmates in city jails — most of which involved a gang member as either an assailant or a victim, or both, according to correction officials — compared with 41 in the 2011 fiscal year. The number of fights among inmates also rose during the same period, to 4,542 from 3,669. In May, the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, the union representing New York City correction officers, filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming that it had failed to provide adequate training and equipment and had not taken other measures to protect officers from the most violent inmates. The lawsuit specifically identified two reputed members of the Bloods who were “responsible for dozens of correction officers being treated for potentially life-altering injuries.” Correction Department officials said they would not comment on pending litigation. But they emphasized that, under Mayor Bill de Blasio, they had spent nearly $200 million to improve officer safety, including hiring additional officers, increasing training and buying safety equipment and gear. Nearly 2,000 correction officers have completed training on ways to de-escalate conflict and improve safety, the officials said. There has been a recent decline in the most serious violence in city jails. There were 79 inmate assaults that resulted in serious injuries to correction officers in the 2015 fiscal year, down from 92 the year before. At the same time, instances of force against inmates that resulted in serious injuries also dropped to 141 from 161. Rikers Island’s nine operating jails house about 8,000 inmates. Each jail is divided into sections, known as housing areas, with 50 to 100 inmates supervised by two officers. While the Correction Department does not intentionally place members of the same gang together, that is often what happens, in part because it can be difficult to identify gang members or parse out inmates’ affiliations with various subgroups, according to law enforcement officials and others familiar with Rikers. When inmates first arrive at the jail complex they are asked about gang affiliations, but it is unclear how forthcoming they are. Any tattoos are photographed. If inmates are determined to belong to a gang, they are classified as belonging to a “security risk group.” Despite such efforts, some housing areas at Rikers have become known as gang areas — say, a “Bloods House” or a “Crips House” — raising concerns among officers who say it is more difficult, and more dangerous, to enforce order when they are outnumbered by gang members. Correction Department officials said last week that they had intensified efforts to gather intelligence on gangs and adopted a more sophisticated system for housing inmates that considers factors including their affiliations with particular gangs. Those deemed to be more prone to violence are placed in individual cells, are more closely supervised and are subject to more precautionary measures. “We are moving aggressively to stop gang activity through better intelligence, safer housing of inmates and a concerted push to arrest those involved in crimes in our jails,” Joseph Ponte, the correction commissioner, said. Martin F. Horn, who was commissioner of the department from 2003 to 2009, said he would try to break up gangs and spread out members to prevent any one gang from dominating a housing area. “Giving one group or gang control of a housing unit is a bad practice,” Mr. Horn said. “It is tantamount to ceding control of order in that housing area to the gang rather than to the city officials. By the same token, controlling it is difficult, too, because it arises sub rosa.” David M. Kennedy, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and director of the National Network for Safe Communities, a group within the college that works with cities to prevent gang violence, said gangs at Rikers and other jails and prisons could be more dangerous than their counterparts on the outside because they tended to be stronger, better organized and more cohesive. Some gangs, such as 415 — named after the San Francisco area code — were started in jails and prisons before spreading outside. Others exist exclusively in confinement. In the case of the Bloods, Professor Kennedy said, there have been gangs in New York City that claimed the Bloods name but operated independently without any centralized leadership. “Things can be different in lockup, where suddenly there can be a good deal more solidity and even real hierarchy,” he said. |