ACS and babysitting contractor to be investigated following Post story on alleged child abuse
The Administration for Children's Services and a longtime city contractor will be investigated by the city's independent watchdog after a city-funded babysitter was allegedly caught on camera beating a pair of young children nearly 60 times with a belt, The Post has learned.
ACS and contractor Selfhelp will be probed by the Department of Investigation just days after The Post reported on how the agency twice failed a single mom and domestic violence survivor.
The story 'raises serious concerns about the vetting practices of this ACS-contracted vendor, among other issues,' a DOI spokesperson said, adding that they plan to undertake an investigation.
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Nearly $400 million in city contracts have been awarded to the vendor, Selfhelp, since 2008 according to records.
Bronx mother Geraldine Jaramillo says her ACS-funded babysitter, 24-year-old La'keysha Jackson, was allegedly caught on video beating two of her young children, 4 and 6, nearly 60 times inside the family's Morrisania building on May 6, according to the family and a filed legal notice.
8 A shocked family says that babysitter La'keysha Jackson – paid for by a city program – was discovered regularly beating three kids under 6-year-old, according to video footage.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
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City officials appear to still have no clue where Jackson is — nearly a month after Jaramillo shared graphic footage with police of the alleged abuse.
8 Jaramillo told The Post that Jackson, pictured, was the second sitter sent to the family after the first from the same ACS-contracted agency was discovered drinking and smoking at a playground while watching the kids.
Facebook / Lakeysha Jackson
Jackson was the second sitter sent to the family after the first Selfhelp employee was discovered boozing and smoking at a playground while watching the kids, according to the legal filing.
DOI spokesperson Dian Struzzi told The Post that 'while DOI intends to conduct an investigation,' their access to caregiver records and involvement with children 'may be precluded by State law,' an issue thoroughly laid out by Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber in an opinion essay published last week.
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'These access limitations can thwart our investigations,' Struzzi said.
8 A still from a graphic video showing Jackson beating the two young children a total of 58 times.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
8 Jackson also allegedly donned grotesque costumes to frighten the children while the single mom was at work.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
'The safety and well-being of New York City's children is our top priority,' said ACS spokesperson Marisa Kaufman, 'and we are investigating these despicable actions.'
The state Office of Children and Family Services, the office that regulates ACS, and city hall officials did not respond to questions prior to publication.
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Questions remain as to why Jackson wasn't apprehended immediately, with police only commenting that she remains at large, despite having the graphic five-minute-long video for nearly a month.
8 'We called the police and filed the report and we went to the hospital,' Jaramillo told The Post. 'They promised to arrest her and it's been three — almost four — weeks and nothing has happened yet.'
Stephen Yang
A neighbor near Jackson's listed address told The Post this week that they hadn't seen her in about a week, but her family had been living there for years.
'I'm just telling you from the bottom of my heart — very surprising video,' the neighbor told a reporter from The Post. 'The girl is very sweet. All she does is religion, school, work, and that's it — it's a very surprising video.'
The longtime neighbor also doubts that Jackson donned the horrifying demonic Santa outfit, claiming 'that's not how her body is built,' and 'they don't celebrate Christmas.'
8 The Nest camera that captured the May 6 beating, plus many others later found on its storage, the family said.
Stephen Yang
Jackson was fired after Selfhelp learned of the video, according to the nonprofit, who said they are cooperating with investigations by ACS and the NYPD.
Since 2008, Selfhelp has been awarded $393.2 million in city contracts, with $83 million in active contracts, the comptroller's office said.
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Their relationship with ACS stretches back to 2009, with a total of $92.2 million in contracts for Homemaker services — the same service utilized by Jarmillo — records show, with an active contract for $19.3 million that runs until Dec. 2026.
8 The contractor who employed the babysitter, Selfhelp, has a long relationship with ACS beginning in 2009, with a total of $92.2 million in contracts for Homemaker services.
William Farrington
Selfhelp was founded in 1936 to aid refugees from Nazi Germany, their website states. Around 5,000 Holocaust survivors are still receiving services from them in 2024.
The non-profit has $250 million in assets, a 2024 audited financial statement states, and serves over 26,000 seniors.
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CEO Stuart Kaplan earned $1.1 million in annual compensation in 2022, according to their most recent tax filing.
8 La'keysha Jackson was considered a member of the family for the year she worked with them through a taxpayer-funded program.
Courtesy Daniel Szalkiewicz
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New York Post
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David Sweat reflects on 'Escape at Dannemora' 10 years later
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Advertisement 'If I'd known everything about him before, I probably would've done it alone,' Sweat said of the 49-year-old Matt. Sweat said he now believes Matt was as a confidential informant for the police back in the 1990s. Matt's 25-year to life sentence began in July 2008 after he was convicted of kidnapping, torturing and murdering 76-year-old William Rickerson, his former employer, in Niagara County in December 1997. 8 Sweat was recaptured on June 28, 2015, when he was shot twice in the back by a state trooper just south of the Canadian border. AP 'You can't trust someone like that . . . and that's worse than the drinking,' Sweat said. Advertisement He was referring to Matt's heavy boozing after the duo found bottles of liquor at an uninhabited cabin following their escape. 'I try not to live with regrets and look back, because it is what it is at this point,' Sweat continued in a soft voice. 'On the one hand, I'm glad that it helped some guys get better treatment and changed things in [Clinton Correctional Facility], because there was some bad crap going on. 'On the other hand, you know, I'm in here for the rest of my life.' Advertisement He added, 'I just wanted to be free.' Sweat now spends his days in an 18-by-5-foot cell. 8 Sweat and Richard Matt escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility on June 6, 2015 with the help of the prison's seamstress, Joyce Mitchell (pictured). LP Media He claims he has been in solitary confinement for 10 years, shuttled between nine different prisons. Sweat and Matt became close while serving time in adjoining cells at Clinton, where Sweat was serving a life sentence without parole for the 2002 killing of a Broome County sheriff's deputy. They hatched their elaborate bid for freedom with the aid of a prison seamstress — the 'Shawskank,' Joyce Mitchell — who was accused of having sexual relationships with both fugitives. Mitchell has repeatedly claimed she and Sweat were never intimate — though she admitted to investigators she had oral sex with Matt and gave nude photos of herself to Matt to give to Sweat. Using tools smuggled in by a correction officer that Mitchell concealed in frozen hamburger meat, they cut through their cell's steel walls over the span of months. The night of the escape, they crawled nearly 500 feet through a pipe before coming to the surface at a manhole cover outside the prison walls. But Mitchell never met them with a getaway car as planned. Advertisement 8 Sweat slammed Ben Stiller's hit 2018 Netflix series 'Escape at Dannemora' — in which he is played by actor Paul Dano (left) and Matt is portrayed by Benicio del Toro (right) — as a 'Hollywood production.' /SHOWTIME The fugitives made a desperate dash toward to the Candian borden, hiking through dense woods and swamps, and squatting in abandoned cabins, as 1,500 cops hunted them. They eventually split up because Sweat could no longer tolerate Matt's drinking and slow pace. Matt was killed in a standoff with cops on the 20th day of the manhunt. Sweat was captured two days later, after he was shot twice by a state trooper just south of the border. Advertisement Ben Stiller's hit 2018 series 'Escape at Dannemora,' in which Sweat is played by actor Paul Dano and Matt is portrayed by Benicio del Toro, reignited the public's fascination in the caper. Although he hasn't seen it, Sweat is not impressed. 'I don't like it because a lot of things . . . were untrue. Like, the stuff between me and Mitchell. We weren't involved like that at all,' he insisted. 8 Using tools smuggled in by Mitchell, the convicted killers cut and climbed into an 18-inch steam pipe in the facility's underbelly, then crawled nearly 500 feet before coming to the surface through a manhole cover. Getty Images Advertisement He also refuted a scene in which corrections officer Gene Palmer — played by actor David Morse — slams his head into a toilet. 'That never happened,' Sweat said. 'I never really interacted with Palmer. That was Matt's guy.' Sweat does not believe he can escape again. 'They'll never let me go to general population,' he said. 'They think I'd try to do it again or I'd help someone else.' Advertisement Any future escape attempts would be impossible in his cell at Mid State, he insisted. 8 'If I hadn't done it with him, I'd probably still be out somewhere,' Sweat said of his partner-in-crime, Richard Matt (pictured). AP 'If you cut through the walls, you'd just be in another cell. And if you cut through the basement — I mean, they use the basement in this prison.' Asked if he was lonely, tears began to well in Sweat's eyes before he replied, 'Yes.' Despite recent reports that he has a girlfriend, Sweat told The Post the relationship failed because she could not keep up with the constant transfers to the furthest corners of the state. Sweat passes the days by reading books — currently, the 'Wheel of Time' series — and listening to his radio. Between the prison's routine 6 a.m. wakeup call and his 9 p.m. bedtime, he works out by putting his books into a bag, and lifting it 'like a dumbbell.' 8 More than 1,500 law enforcement agents hunted Matt and Sweat during the 23-day manhunt, which cost the state a whopping $23 million. Getty Images His favorite activity is interacting with wildlife through the two windows in a tiny room attached to his cell, which he referred to as a 'pen.' 'There are birds and squirrels and stuff that come in here. I had a rabbit all winter. I tried to feed it carrots — it didn't really like them, I guess because they were steamed — but it ate them anyways, because it was free food. 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'Everybody around here thinks she really should have got more time than she got.' Advertisement Joyce Mitchell was a supervisor in the prison tailor shop when she began 'flirtatious' relationships with both Matt and Sweat, who were meticulously hatching an escape not unlike the fictitious one in 1994's 'The Shawshank Redemption.' As the flings progressed, the dowdy seamstress gave Matt oral sex and passed along nude selfies for Sweat, she later confessed to authorities. Eventually she began helping the cons with their planned breakout, even smuggling in a hacksaw blade and drill bit concealed in hamburger meat. 8 The dowdy seamstress also gave Matt oral sex and passed along nude selfies for Sweat, she admitted in her confession. vmodica All the while, her husband worked as an industrial training supervisor in the same lockup. Advertisement After six months of planning and using the tools to cut through their steel cell walls and an 18-inch steam pipe in the facility's underbelly, the duo made their escape on June 6, 2015. They emerged from a manhole cover about 500 feet outside the prison walls around 11:50 p.m. Joyce Mitchell was supposed to be waiting for her daring boytoys in a car at a nearby intersection at midnight, ready to ride off into the sunset toward Mexico. But she never showed up. 8 Sweat (left) and Matt (right) used tools provided by Mitchell to break out of the prison on June 6, 2015. AP Advertisement Instead, she went to the hospital in the throes of a panic attack. The two inmates skulked around the neighborhood until about 12:20 a.m. Realizing she had backed out, they took off. The escape, and Joyce's romantic role in it, made national headlines, and Joyce was dubbed 'Shawskank.' Then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo rushed to the prison, where he was photographed peering into the manhole. The subsequent, 23-day manhunt riveted the nation, with 1,500 law enforcement officers, at a cost of $1 million-per-day, scouring the deep woods of the North Country for the desperate fugitives. But they were elusive, trudging through dense forests and swamps, and setting up makeshift campsites when they weren't squatting in empty hunting cabins. In one, they picked up a 20-gauge shotgun, rum, boots, binoculars, maps and other supplies. 8 The escape, and Joyce's romantic role in it, made national headlines. REUTERS The duo finally split up on June 23. Three days later, Matt was cornered by border patrol agents near Lake Titus. When he ignored commands to surrender, he was shot dead. On June 28, Sweat was spotted by a State Trooper near Constable. When he tried to run, the sergeant fired two rounds, hitting Sweat in the left arm and right shoulder before he was recaptured. Advertisement Joyce was arrested June 12 – less than a week after the jailbreak. She pleaded guilty in September 2015 to promoting prison contraband and criminal facilitation, and was sentenced to two-and-a-half to seven years. She was released after less than five years spent at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Westchester County. 8 A family photo Joyce posted on Facebook in August 2023 show the couple posing alongside six other adults and a little girl, grinning in the woods. Joyce Mitchell/ Facebook In the years since, Joyce has put up a happy front on Facebook, where she uses her old nickname Tillie — just like her character played by Patricia Arquette in Ben Stiller's mini-series 'Escape at Dannemora.' Seemingly serene family photos of Joyce and Lyle posted in August 2023 show the couple posing alongside six other adults and a little girl in the woods. Advertisement Another Facebook snap shows the youngster, believed to be the couple's granddaughter, lovingly wrapping her arms around a grumpy-looking Lyle. But away from social media, neighbors say the couple rarely poke their heads out from their gray, worn-down, two-story home, which is decorated with butterfly windchimes, a ceramic dog sculpture and other tchotchkes. A black Boston Terrier could be seen lazing inside a windowsill when The Post visited recently. 8 Another Facebook snap shows the youngster, who is believed to be the couple's granddaughter, lovingly wrapping her arms around a grumpy-looking Lyle. Joyce Mitchell/ Facebook It's unclear how the couple gets by financially. Joyce was fired and Lyle quit amid disciplinary actions. They both collect small state pensions, which were reduced because they left jobs long before their expected retirement dates. Advertisement 'Obviously she's not working in corrections. I don't think anyone would hire [either of] them around here,' said Ed Work, who serves as a warden at nearby Franklin Correctional. Lyle made $20,292 in 2024, while Joyce made only $8,775, according to public state pension records. Until a few years ago, Work said he used to spot Joyce headed to her monthly parole-officer meetings. 'I've seen her a few times going to parole and I've seen her once at the store since she's been out, but I haven't seen Lyle once,' he said. Advertisement 8 Lyle made $20,292 in 2024, according to public state pension records. Matthew Symons for NYP 'It's a close community, but no, they're not really involved,' he continued. At the Franklin prison, Work said correction officer trainees are taught Joyce's relationship with Matt and Sweat as an example of what not to do. 'You know, some prisoners might try to manipulate you, saying, 'You look nice today' and other stuff to get better treatment. But you can't let 'em get to you,' Work explained. 'Joyce isn't the prettiest girl in town, so I'm not sure what those guys were doing, but I guess you get pretty desperate in jail,' he added with a chuckle. One neighbor described the Mitchells as 'friendly' and helpful. Lyle has helped the neighbor, who gave his name as Jeff, clear his land. 'It's a lot of work clearing the lot, and that's what we talk about. Nothing personal,' said Jeff. As for Joyce, 'she waves when I see her coming out, but it's not that often.' 8 'Leave us alone. Get the f–k away from us and leave us alone,' Lyle barked at a Post reporter before slamming the door shut. Matthew Symons for NYP Despite the allegations against Joyce – which included a plot to kill Lyle, according to Sweat and investigators – Lyle welcomed his wife back with open arms. He is decidedly less tolerant of nosy journalists. 'Leave us alone. Get the f–k away from us and leave us alone,' he barked at a Post reporter before slamming the door shut. 'Stay the f–k away from us.'
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