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Rikers Monitor Expected to Take Aim at City Jails Chief in Hearing Judge Casts Doubt on New York City’s Ability to Run Rikers Island Jails
(about 7 hours later)
A federal monitor who supervises the jail complex on Rikers Island is expected to deliver a sharp rebuke of New York City’s jails chief, Louis A. Molina, in court Tuesday over violent or negligent treatment of incarcerated people by jail staff. A federal judge on Tuesday said that recent reports of violence and negligence on Rikers Island raised “profound questions” about New York City’s ability to protect detainees and jail staff — and for the first time signaled that she might be willing to consider a federal takeover of the notorious jail complex.
In three reports filed in Federal District Court in recent weeks, the monitor, Steve J. Martin, has accused Mr. Molina and his Department of Correction staff of hiding information and shirking responsibility for recent events at Rikers. The reports demonstrate a stunning lack of trust in the agency. Although lawyers for incarcerated people have called for months for New York City to be stripped of its authority over the jails, the judge, Laura T. Swain, said at a hearing on Tuesday she was not yet ready to hear arguments for that option. She added though that her faith in the city’s leadership had been shaken by a series of alarming reports issued in recent weeks by a monitor who oversees the jails.
Mr. Martin wrote last week, for example, that he did not necessarily believe the Department when it said there had been only three deaths in custody this year. In those reports, the monitor, Steve J. Martin, detailed episodes of violence and negligence — including a confrontation between correction officers and a detainee that left the detainee paralyzed from the neck down — and accused the city’s jail chief, Louis A. Molina, and his Department of Correction staff, of hiding information and shirking responsibility.
“Given recent concerns regarding the Department’s lack of transparency and the accuracy of data provided, it is possible this number could be higher,” he wrote. As recently as October, Mr. Martin had praised Mr. Molina, saying that the city was poised to turn things around at Rikers Island, in part because of his “courage to make unpopular changes, and creativity in his approach to solving decades-old problems.” But the reports, and Mr. Martin’s comments at the hearing, represented a stark about-face, with the monitor pointedly expressing a lack of trust in the agency.
When Mr. Molina began his tenure in January 2022, he helped bring back hundreds of correction officers who had been failing to show up for work each day throughout the previous year. Mr. Martin wrote last week that he did not necessarily believe the Department when it said there had been only three deaths in custody this year.
But violence and chaos have continued at Rikers Island and, this year, Mr. Molina and New York City’s mayor Eric Adams have limited public information about conditions inside. They have stopped informing news outlets when deaths occur and have made it difficult for a city watchdog to access video and other information from Rikers Island. “Given recent concerns regarding the department’s lack of transparency and the accuracy of data provided, it is possible this number could be higher,” he wrote.
The Tuesday hearing in federal court may be a precursor to more dramatic action. In April 2022, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan raised the prospect of a federal takeover of Rikers Island, through an official known as a receiver. At least 38 people have died there in the past three years. That possibility has informed much of Mr. Molina’s tenure, and he has vowed to get the complex under control. In the Tuesday hearing, Judge Swain asked Mr. Molina directly why he and Mayor Eric Adams of New York City had made comments to the press defending his staff’s response to the episodes of violence and negligence, and whether there was “any reason I should not be disturbed” that Mr. Molina had asked that several not be reported to the court.
If Mr. Martin has lost confidence in Mr. Molina, it could signal a shift in the attitude of the federal judge overseeing his work. Ultimately it would be up to that judge, Laura T. Swain, to appoint a receiver, stripping New York City of its authority. The episodes included the violent restraint of a person in custody, reportedly over 80 years old, and jails staffs’ failure to help an incarcerated person who was badly beaten by other inmates, and left naked in the jails for hours. Mr. Molina said he felt it necessary to let the public know that the episodes did not represent a “cascading, systemwide” crisis.
There is no sign that Mr. Martin will call for receivership on Tuesday. Judge Swain has given no indication that she will appoint an outside authority. Mr. Martin’s latest report, filed Monday, suggests that his goal is more modest: To get timely, accurate information about deaths and other serious incidents on Rikers Island. Judge Swain did not appear soothed by the explanation, and, toward the end of the hearing, chided Mr. Molina and Mr. Adams for their comments. The mayor had told amNewYork that Mr. Martin’s reports had “caused a level of uproar” that was unfair to correction officers and to the incarcerated and had “created the wrong message.”
Rikers has endured decades of crisis. In 2017, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the complex would close within the next 10 years, to be replaced by four smaller jails. The plan depended on bringing down the number of incarcerated people in New York City: The new jail facilities, one in each borough except Staten Island, would comprise roughly 3,300 beds. Next month, Mr. Martin will file a report that will assess whether the city has managed to substantially reduce risk to those incarcerated and employed at Rikers Island, with an August hearing before Judge Swain to follow. Whether the city should be allowed to retain control of its jails is likely to be explored at that hearing.
But shortly after the pandemic arrived in March 2020, violent crime rose in the New York City. A delay in the processing of court cases contributed to a rise in the population at Rikers. At the same time, hundreds of correction officers, who were hit hard by the virus, stopped showing up for work. By the summer of 2021, the complex was spiraling out of control. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan raised the prospect of a federal takeover of Rikers Island — where at least 38 people have died there in the past three years — in April 2022, suggesting that they might seek the appointment of an outside authority to run the jails. That possibility has hovered over much of Mr. Molina’s tenure, and he has vowed to get the complex under control.
Now, the island’s population has risen above 6,000 and Mayor Adams has questioned the city’s ability to close the complex before the deadline. Rikers has endured decades of crisis: In 2017, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the complex would close within the next 10 years and be replaced by four smaller jails. The plan depended on bringing down the number of incarcerated people in New York City: The new jail facilities, one in each borough except Staten Island, would comprise roughly 3,300 beds.
Mr. Martin said in the three recent reports that the city’s stonewalling has hindered his ability to oversee Rikers. The first report, issued late last month, focused on five “serious and disturbing” instances in which detainees were injured, harmed or fell ill. Mr. Martin said that he — and by proxy, Judge Swain — had been unaware of the events until reporters had asked about them. But shortly after the coronavirus pandemic arrived in March 2020, violent crime rose in New York City. A delay in the processing of court cases contributed to a rise in the population at Rikers. At the same time, hundreds of correction officers, who were hit hard by the virus, stopped showing up for work. By summer 2021, the complex was spiraling out of control.
In response, Mr. Molina and Mayor Adams provided video to amNewYork Metro that they claimed showed Mr. Martin’s reports were flawed. The mayor told the outlet that Mr. Martin’s report on the episodes — which included the violent restraint of a person in custody who was reportedly over 80 years old and jails staffs’ failure to help an incarcerated person who was badly beaten by other inmates — had “caused a level of uproar” that was unfair to correction officers and to the incarcerated and had “created the wrong message.” Now, the island’s population has risen above 6,000 and Mr. Adams has questioned his government’s ability to close the complex before the deadline.
On Monday, Mr. Martin renewed his criticism, offering more information about two of the specific episodes, including one in May in which a man was paralyzed from the neck down after Department of Correction staff tackled him to the ground. Appointed in January 2022, Mr. Molina’s tenure has not been without gains. He helped bring back hundreds of correction officers who had been failing to show up for work each day throughout the previous year, mitigating some of the disarray that arrived with the pandemic.
Mr. Molina’s response, the monitor wrote, suggested “an attempt to excuse or avoid responsibility for a very serious event.” But violence and chaos have continued at Rikers Island and, this year, Mr. Molina and Mr. Adams have restricted the release of public information about conditions inside. They have stopped informing news outlets when deaths occur and have made it difficult for a city watchdog to access video and other information from Rikers Island.
Next month, Mr. Martin is due to file a report that will assess whether the city has managed to substantially reduce risk to those incarcerated and employed at Rikers Island, with an August hearing before Judge Swain to follow. Previously, Judge Swain had been unwilling to allow representatives for incarcerated people even to argue in favor of a receiver. Her comments on Tuesday marked the most permissive stance she has taken toward the possibility: She said that the representatives — which include lawyers from the Legal Aid Society and the Manhattan federal prosecutors — could propose a schedule for arguments about the appointment of an outside authority, in August.
Kayla Simpson, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society, said in an interview after the hearing that the instructions from Judge Swain represented “an important signal about the gravity of the situation that we’re in.”
Judge Swain also issued a ruling meant to allow Mr. Martin to get timely, accurate information about deaths and other serious incidents on Rikers Island.
Mr. Martin said in the three recent reports that the city’s stonewalling has hindered his ability to oversee Rikers. The first report, issued late last month, focused on five “serious and disturbing” incidents in which detainees were injured, harmed or fell ill. Mr. Martin said that he — and by proxy, Judge Swain — had been unaware of the events until reporters had asked about them. In response, Mr. Molina and Mr. Adams provided video to amNewYork Metro that they claimed showed Mr. Martin’s reports were flawed.
Mr. Molina defended his record at Tuesday’s hearing, saying that the city’s jails were trending in the right direction after he had inherited a department “on the brink of collapse.” A lawyer for the city, Alan Shiner, added that it would be a “logical fallacy” to draw conclusions about conditions within the jails on the basis of the five events.
But Jeffrey Powell, an assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan, said that the constitutional rights of incarcerated people on Rikers Island were being violated on a daily basis.
And Mary Lynne Werlwas, director of the Prisoners’ Rights Project at the Legal Aid Society, renewed her calls for an outside authority to step in.
“Thousands of lives are in serious jeopardy every day that the status quo continues,” Ms. Werlwas said.