Latest news with #CorrectionDepartment
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NYC commission calls for fixes to speed Close Rikers timeline, reduce jail population
New York City should create two new positions to oversee the closure of Rikers Island, which is mandated by law to take place by 2027, but is now already up to a half-decade behind schedule because the new borough jails won't be finished in time, a commission appointed to review the plans said Wednesday. The Independent Rikers Commission's report said the plan needs a point person at City Hall focused only on closing Rikers and a similar official at the Correction Department charged with readying the agency for the four new borough jails. The commission, made up of a range of jail experts and prominent New Yorkers in legal, business and political circles, also pressed in the report for expansion of the number of beds for the mentally ill, who make up half the jail population and might be the most pressing issue confronted in the system on a daily basis. The Brooklyn jail is slated for completion in 2029, the Bronx jail in 2031, and Queens and Manhattan in 2032. The city could reduce that timeline by a year by having the design and construction work as one team, rather than separately as is the current structure, the panel argued. The major hurdle is the size of the jail population — currently about 6,800 compared with the 3,300 ceiling originally envisioned in the Close Rikers plan and later expanded by the Adams administration to 4,500. The jail population has risen 32% since January 2022. The panel called the current population 'artificially inflated,' caused by court backlogs and the large number of mentally ill detainees. A combination of speedier case management by the state courts, electronic monitoring and expanded drug and mental health treatment could reduce the population to 4,500, the commission said. Another 500 beds would be in state psychiatric facilities and reserved for the severely mentally ill. 'None of this is guaranteed,' the panel wrote. 'We freely admit that our projections are both science and art; the best educated guesses we can make under current circumstances. It is clear from experience that properly funded, properly staffed interventions with reasonable caseloads can make real progress.' In a statement, Mayor Adams insisted he supports the closure of the jails on Rikers Island, but the original plan was 'not realistic.' 'We are glad that the Lippman Commission is finally recognizing what we have been sounding the alarm on for years — the plan for Rikers was flawed and did not offer a realistic timeline,' he said. Adams said the city has already been investing hundreds of millions in the Correction Department and he blamed the pandemic for the delayed construction timeline. He also said laws passed during the de Blasio era 'prohibit' the city from using emergency capital funds to bolster the jail system. 'To leave the plan as is and deny us these funds hurts our staff and is inhumane to those in our custody,' the mayor said. City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, a recently announced candidate for mayor, countered, 'While success requires partnership and close collaboration from many stakeholders, our city's mayoral administration must be willing to take concrete action steps and dedicate resources required to implement this blueprint, so another viable plan does not go unfulfilled. 'There is no shortcut to the work ahead, and there can be no discussions about the legal closure date without these types of commitments from the administration,' Adams said. With Chris Sommerfeldt
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Yahoo
Robbery suspect who collapsed at Rikers has died, the 3rd death of 2025 in NYC jails
A 21-year-old man suffering from a serious infection who went into medical distress last Thursday in a jail at Rikers Island has died, according to officials and sources. Ariel Quidone had been held in the Robert N. Davoren Center since March 7 after he was arrested in Manhattan in connection with two robberies, records show. He collapsed and was transported to Elmhurst Hospital Center alive but in grave condition. He underwent major surgery in an effort to save his life. Sources familiar with the case said he died in the jail ward at the hospital Sunday. He was due in court last Wednesday but never showed. A Correction Department spokesman did not immediately reply to a request for additional details, but agency records list Quidone as 'released.' Friends of Quidone, identified as from the Vladeck Houses on the Lower East Side, posted memories of the man on social media. 'Rest in Paradise Ariel Quidone, just a kid coming from school repping Vladecks,' wrote one person on Facebook. Wrote a second, 'I saw this young [man] almost every day over the years. I watched him grow up before my eyes. May he rest in heavenly peace.' Quidone's death was the third in the city jails in 2025. Previously, Ramel Powell, 38, died in the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Feb. 19. Terrence Moore, 55, died five days later on Feb. 24. Both cases remain under investigation.
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Yahoo
NYC jail data show a sharp increase in correction officers out on family leave
The city Correction Department has seen a mysterious jump over the past 18 months in the numbers of officers taking time off under laws that allow leave for pregnancies and caring for sick relatives — sparking concerns that officers are using the leaves as their own literal get-out-of-jail-free card, according to data and correction sources. Until August 2023, the number of officers out each day on so-called FMLA leave was fairly steady at around 45 a day on average, according to department figures cited in a November report by the federal monitor tracking violence and uses of force in the jails. The total jumped to an average of 86 officers a day in August 2023 and then to about 110 a day on average one month later, the figures show. The daily average has remained consistently above 110 since then, the figures show. In 2024, the average was 113 officers a day — or 151% higher than in the summer of 2023. These increases are much smaller than those in the postpandemic sick leave scandal of 2021 and 2022, when it was routine for 1,500 officers a day to be out, and some officers were charged with crimes over their absences, but the rise was important enough to be mentioned in the little-noticed November report by the monitor. 'While the department appears to have effectively curbed abuses in these areas [sick leave], a problem involving potential abuses of Family Medical Leave Act and Personal Emergency leave has emerged,' the federal monitoring team tracking violence and staff use of force in the jails noted in November. 'Staff are also not utilizing Personal Emergency time as designed.' The number of officers out per day on personal emergency leave also rose, from 30 in 2022 to 44 in 2024 — a 47% jump, the figures show. The federal Family Leave and Medical Act provides for 12 to 26 weeks of unpaid leave for special time away from work for situations like pregnancies and caring for a loved one who is sick. State law provides for 12 weeks of paid leave. Multiple Correction Department sources claimed one factor is that some officers use the FMLA allowances as de facto sick days without obtaining prior approval. 'They're using it like a bank card. They will call and say I'm FMLA-ing for today, or the next two hours. Why is it happening? Because the commissioner's not holding them accountable for it,' a source said. Union officials didn't respond to a request for comment. The sources said the problem emerged in a more pronounced way after the crackdown on sick leave abuse that included home visits by correction investigators to verify the reported illness. 'You have officers who might be allowed one to three days a month, but they are going over 10 or 15 days,' a source said. Maureen Sheehan, a former Correction Department deputy director of investigations, said one issue has been that the agency has been lax in checking the paperwork that is supposed to be filed and approved whenever a staffer goes out on FMLA. 'It's hard to even know if they took an FMLA day because it's just handwritten into a logbook at the facility,' she said. 'There's no one really checking.' The disclosure emerges as the department is once again struggling with staffing shortages. On March 7, the Daily News reported that Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie backed down on a plan to move to 12-hour tours after a staff revolt. It's unclear what her next plan will be. In remarks to the City Council that same day, Maginley-Liddie cited a 32% increase in the jail population during Mayor Adams' three-year tenure to 6,900 detainees along with a 20% drop in officers to about 6,000 during the same period. Some 700 officers will be eligible to retire this year, with an additional 750 in 2026, she said. 'As we move into this next fiscal year, we must confront some hard truths,' she said. Correction Department spokesmen did not directly address a connection between the 12-hour tour plan and the FMLA numbers. But they noted that the percentage of staff out on sick leave has dropped from 22% in December 2021 to 11% in December 2022 to 7% in December 2024. Officers who are 'medically restricted,' or barred from working directly with detainees, has also dropped from 10% in December 2021 to 5% in December 2024. 'The NYC Department of Correction holds our staff to the highest standards. Any unbecoming conduct will be investigated,' department press secretary Annais Morales said. 'As we said before, our scheduling strategies are intended to address staffing challenges while improving coverage, predictability and work-life balance for our dedicated staff. The Correction Department declined to provide statistics on how many officers are directly working in the jails on a given day or offer an explanation for the increase in officers out each day on FMLA and emergency leave except to reiterate that abuse allegations are investigated. Morales said recruiting is a priority of the agency, noting that the city's fiscal 2026 budget includes $5 million for that purpose.
Yahoo
10-02-2025
- Yahoo
Man held on Rikers Island sucker-punches female corrections officer, causing severe head injury
A man held on Rikers Island sucker-punched a female correction officer in the head from behind without warning Saturday, causing injuries severe enough to require emergency surgery, according to officials and correction sources. Robert Ray, 34, of Manhattan, was being held without bail for a strikingly similar attack on an MTA station agent at an East Side subway station on Sept. 16, records show. He was arrested immediately for the unprovoked assault on the officer on attempted murder and related charges at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center about 6:18 p.m., said Annais Morales, a spokeswoman for the Correction Department. The officer was knocked unconscious and rushed to a local hospital with serious injuries, Morales said. Two correction sources said separately she suffered bleeding on the brain and needed emergency surgery. 'Our staff perform a heroic public safety function for New Yorkers and any violence against them will be met with the full force of the law. Offenders will be arrested, charged, and the DOC will fully support the prosecution of the attacker,' said Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie. 'Our heart is with our brave officer whose recovery is our first priority. The Department and our entire city is with her.' A spokesman for the Correction Officers Benevolent Association did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Ray's prior alleged assault on the station agent took place just after 6 a.m. in the E. 53rd St and Lexington Ave. subway station. Prosecutors said he followed her as she walked to a bathroom and to check the escalators. He then ran up behind her and punched her in the face. She dropped to the ground. Ray ran off and was captured later than day. The station agent suffered a gash to her face, swelling and pain. 'Ray punched an MTA employee in an unprovoked attack, causing her to fall to the ground,' said District Alvin Attorney Bragg in a statement following the indictment. 'Millions of New Yorkers rely on the hard work of our dedicated MTA employees every day, and we will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to ensure our transit system is safe.'
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Correction officers union head Boscio slams city's bid to appoint DOC Commissioner Maginley-Liddie as NYC jails receiver
Correction officers union chief Benny Boscio has slammed the city's attempt to convince a federal judge to appoint DOC Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie as receiver over New York jails. In a statement to members, Boscio called Maginley-Liddie a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' for 'constantly bending to the will of the [federal] monitor time and time again.' Boscio, president of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, wrote it is 'disingenuous' for Magnley-Liddie to claim to part of the 'Boldest' family while asking the court to give her power to change the union contract. 'The commissioner is pushing policies that will diminish our rights as union members rather than defend them, at a time when our members need the support of their commissioner and their agency the most,' Boscio writes. The Correction Department press office did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The letter was sparked by a flurry of court filings late Friday evening, in which lawyers representing the Justice Department and the interests of people held in the jails laid out their proposal for a receiver — a court-appointed official who would be granted broad powers to run the beleaguered jail system. The city, meanwhile, proposed Maginley-Liddie act as both commissioner and 'compliance director,' or the city's version of a receiver. With those roles, the city proposed, she would serve both the mayor and the court over a five-year tenure, the filing said. The filings came in Nunez v. the City of New York, a class action lawsuit on violence and staff use of excessive force in the jails filed in 2011. Four years later, it led to the appointment of the federal monitor empowered to closely track problems in the jails and offer recommendations to fix them. Nearly a decade later, the plaintiffs argue, the jails remain so dangerous that control needs to be taken from the city's hands. Last fall, Judge Laura Taylor Swain found the city in contempt of a range of court orders and directed the parties to file proposals for an independent receiver. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say the receiver should be an 'outside person' with the power to change DOC policies, run the disciplinary system, renegotiate union contracts, hire and fire staff and redeploy officers as necessary, the filing states. The city's filing calls for similar powers and claims giving Maginley-Liddie the dual post is the 'most narrowly tailored, speedy and effective means' of fixing the jails. The Daily News first reported on Dec. 11 the city was backing Maginley-Liddie for the post. But the plaintiffs immediately dismissed the proposal as 'convoluted and confusing.' 'The current Commissioner is obviously not an 'outside person,'' they wrote. 'She has held top DOC leadership positions during a period when the jails became more violent and unsafe, DOC violated core provisions of the Nuñez orders, and DOC failed to 'demonstrate' diligent attempts to comply with the Contempt Provisions in a reasonable manner.'' Overall, they wrote, the city's proposal 'does little more than preserve the status quo when … the Department of Correction is in need of transformational change.' Meanwhile, last week, the city held a mandated hearing on the contract for the new borough jail for Manhattan to replace The Tombs, which is being demolished as part of the Close Rikers plan. Under the timeline of the contract, the new Manhattan jail would be completed by 2032, the advocacy group Freedom Agenda said based on a review of the contract documents. The completion date is five years after the legally mandated closure of Rikers Island in 2027. 'Mayor Adams says he will always follow the law, but is clearly making no effort to do that,' said Freedom Agenda co-director Darren Mack. 'With a blueprint already in place for the borough jail designs, there is no conceivable reason that the Manhattan jail should be completed five years after the legal deadline.' A spokesman for the city Department of Design and Construction, which is overseeing the project, did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
