| On Rikers
Island Crisis Labor Rules Cited As Cause
So New Plan Due By May 17, May 24 Review
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon Maxwell
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SDNY COURTHOUSE,
April 26 –
Amid the crisis at New
York City's Rikers Island, now
the NYC Commission of
Corrections has been summoned
to a April 26 court
conference, albeit by
video.
On April
21, U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New
York Chief Judge Laura Taylor
Swain
ordered:
"The Court has
received and carefully
reviewed the April 19, 2022,
letter from the Office of the
United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York
(docket entry no. 444) and the
April 20, 2022, status report
from the Monitoring Team.
(Docket entry no. 445.) In
light of the gravity and
urgency of the security
situation as outlined in the
submissions, and the
consequent need for clarity as
to planned changes and the
implementation thereof, the
Court hereby directs the
Commissioner of the New York
City Department of Correction
to attend the April 26, 2022,
status conference in this
action... "
On April 26 the
conference took place between
2 pm and 4:15 pm. 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-05845 (Swain)
***
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