logo
Suffolk jails forced to hold 125 prisoners set for transfer because of state chaos

Suffolk jails forced to hold 125 prisoners set for transfer because of state chaos

Yahoo14 hours ago

Suffolk County's jails are being forced to hold onto 125 felons who were supposed to be transferred upstate — with officials blaming state government chaos for the delay, The Post has learned.
County Executive Ed Romaine blamed Gov. Kathy Hochul and said housing a growing number of state prisoners is putting staff in a dangerous situation as taxpayers are on the hook for hundreds of thousands in estimated extra costs.
'They've been convicted and are supposed to be in state prisons and they're not because the state is just not taking them,' Romaine told The Post.
'Now, why is the state not taking them?' the Republican added. 'Well, [Hochul] fired 2,000 corrections officers striking for better working conditions and she's closing prisons around the state.'
Under state law, inmates sentenced to hard time in state prison are supposed to be transferred upstate within 10 business days. But Romaine said that has changed in the aftermath of labor unrest with the corrections officer union and Democratic governor.
He said the delays are now causing headaches across the system, from administration to the inmates themselves.
Most of the detainees in the two county jails — in Riverhead and Yaphank — are people accused of low-level crimes that are being held for trial and have not been convicted. They are now bunking alongside convicted criminals who were intended to only pass through the system.
Romaine added that the influx of roughly 125 felons is raising serious safety and management concerns for staff.
'Our jail staff are already spread thin,' Romaine wrote in a letter to Gov. Hochul in May obtained by The Post. 'I understand that the state faces similar staffing challenges, but it is unfair to shift this burden to the County with minimal financial compensation and little to no collaboration.'
The state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision blamed the backlog on system-halting staffing shortages that were sparked after the state fired 2,000 corrections officers who participated in an unauthorized, nearly month-long strike in March.
Romaine shot back that the staffing shortages should be Suffolk's problem.
'The law says they're state ready, then they need to be in state prisons, not local jails,' he said.
New York State is reimbursing Suffolk $100 per day for every inmate stuck in the county jails, but Romaine said the county pays $250 per day for each, meaning taxpayers are on the hook for the extra $150.
'The warden and his staff calculate that we have expended approximately $280,000 in excess of what we have received from the state to house these state ready but unclaimed prisoners since February,' Romaine wrote in the May letter.
More inmates in lockup means more guards are needed to work — with more overtime costs, he added.
Romaine warned that if the backlog continues, it could lead to dangerous overcrowding and unravel the work the county has been doing to improve jail conditions.
'This is unsustainable long term,' he said.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Tennessee prison riot contained after several hours; 3 inmates and 1 guard injured
Tennessee prison riot contained after several hours; 3 inmates and 1 guard injured

Washington Post

time18 minutes ago

  • Washington Post

Tennessee prison riot contained after several hours; 3 inmates and 1 guard injured

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Inmates at a Tennessee prison sought to destroy property, compromised security cameras and set a few fires during a riot that took several hours to contain and caused minor injuries to three inmates and one guard, the facility's private operator said. On Sunday evening, a large group of inmates at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center from several housing units left their cells and accessed an inner yard, becoming 'disruptive and confrontational' and refusing to follow the staff's directions, according to CoreCivic spokesperson Ryan Gustin. The prison in Hartsville, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Nashville, is the subject of an ongoing U.S. Department of Justice investigation .

D.C. youth, 16, ordered confined until age 21 in killing of disc jockey
D.C. youth, 16, ordered confined until age 21 in killing of disc jockey

Washington Post

time18 minutes ago

  • Washington Post

D.C. youth, 16, ordered confined until age 21 in killing of disc jockey

With tears streaming down their faces, nearly a dozen family members and friends of Bryan Smith stood before a D.C. Superior Court judge Monday and asked the same question: How could a teenager with multiple arrests for violent crimes, including assault and robbery, still be out on the streets. Prosecutors said the teen was only 15 when he and a 17-year-old companion, both from Northeast Washington, robbed and struck the 39-year-old Smith from behind so severely that he was left with severe brain damage and broken eye sockets. The attack occurred around 5 a.m. on Oct. 28 in the 500 block of T Street NW as Smith was returning home from a disc jockeying job. Smith lingered in a coma for two weeks before his mother removed him from life support in a Virginia hospital.

Doechii's closing WorldPride set ended a tense weekend on a high note
Doechii's closing WorldPride set ended a tense weekend on a high note

Washington Post

time19 minutes ago

  • Washington Post

Doechii's closing WorldPride set ended a tense weekend on a high note

Nightclubs. Karaoke spots. House party living rooms. Wedding reception halls. All fine places to dance your life away. But nothing beats the streets. Without ceilings or walls to keep the music from flying off into oblivion, we keep our dancing shoes pressed to the pavement, catching the rhythm with our bodies, circulating it among an assembly of strangers like some game of metaphysical pinball. Or at least that's what seemed to be happening smack in the middle of Pennsylvania Avenue NW on Sunday evening as Doechii, the lightning-mouthed Florida rap star, delivered a galvanizing closing set at this year's WorldPride celebration in Washington — a boisterous affirmation of the LGBTQ+ community's perseverance and purpose that might have felt overwhelming had it not been such electric fun. This was a happy conclusion to a difficult week. WorldPride is the largest Pride Month celebration on the planet, but this year, its proximity to President Donald Trump's White House charged the festivities with tensions and safety concerns. As the Trump administration continues to erode transgender rights and dissolve diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, fearful corporate sponsors withheld their cash. On a day's notice, Shakira canceled her opening-night concert at Nationals Park, citing an insurmountable production glitch. Over the weekend, federal authorities attempted to fence off Dupont Circle Park, the center of the city's historic LGBTQ neighborhood, but the park ultimately stayed open. At least on Sunday night, without anxiety or ambiguity, Pennsylvania Avenue belonged to the people — many of them wearing colorful T-shirts adorned with even more colorful phrases that made their opposition to oppression abundantly clear. 'WorldPride 2025 is an act of resistance,' organizer Rahul Upadhyay said onstage before Doechii's set. 'This is what hope looks like. This is what family looks like.' Once Doechii appeared — frontlit in green, backlit in pink, braids swinging down to her heels — it also looked like a party. Still floating on the runaway success of her zesty 2024 album 'Alligator Bites Never Heal,' her performance landed like hard evidence of rap music's synchronizing power. When she launched into her signature tale of a stressed-out crash out, 'Denial Is a River,' fans two blocks deep in the crowd were rattling off Doechii's zigzag lyrics as if reciting a shouted prayer — 'Whoopsie! Made an oopsie! One-hundred-thousand dollar 'oops' made me loopy!' — all the way down to the panicked breathing of the song's finale. If you'd ever hoped to feel a sense of community by standing in a throng of many-thousands, pretending to hyperventilate in unified glee, here you were. 'Easy, breezy, beautiful, erratic,' Doechii rapped by way of self-description over the jazzy boom-bap of 'Boiled Peanuts,' positing herself as a stylistic heir to Missy Elliott, eager to express her messy multitudes with airlocked precision. Legible and danceable, her intentionality felt so well-suited for a celebration like this. In life writ large — which includes music-making, party-throwing, meal-making, getting dressed, sports, sex, watching television and more — spontaneity is all well and good, but sometimes being deliberate is a necessity. A party on this grand of a scale with this depth of purpose doesn't tend to erupt in the streets on a whim. As with a Doechii song, pleasure requires preparation. As for the gratitude, it flowed both ways. 'I've never felt so much love and peace from a community in my entire life,' Doechii told the crowd, catching her breath between rhyming sprints. The crowd roared. The music thundered. The people moved. Pennsylvania Avenue isn't the street the president lives on. It's a dance floor.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store