FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, January 24, 2025
Contact: Yonah Zeitz, yonah@katalcenter.org • 347-201-2769
Follow on X: @KatalCenter | #ShutRikers | #CutShutInvestNY
Mayor Adams’s Administration Refuses to Outline Structure of Independent Receiver at Rikers, Proposes More of Same
Statement by Katal Center on Today’s Federal Court Filings
New York, NY: Today, after four months, the federal monitor and the parties in the Nunez v. N.Y.C. Department of Correction, issued a status report related to development of a federal receivership at Rikers. The parties were directed to file the report by Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain, in order to address the excessive levels of violence and gross mismanagement by the Department of Corrections. While the judge requested the parties to work together, they could not come to agreement. The Legal Aid Society and the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York outline an independent receiver to take over the jail complex to “address the ongoing violations of the constitutional rights of incarcerated people in the City’s custody.” Instead of outlining the structure of an independent receiver, the City, under Mayor Adams, has requested the Court to appoint the current DOC Commissioner, Lynelle Maginley-Liddie as a ”Compliance Director.” The City’s position flies in the face of the judge’s request.
Statement from Yonah Zeitz, New York Director of Advocacy, Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice.
“The multiple crises at Rikers are so severe that a federal judge is on the verge of appointing an independent receiver. Rather than work on a sensible plan to solve the crisis, the City, under Mayor Adams, seeks to make a mockery of the process by proposing, in effect, to maintain the status quo. This is shameful.
The status quo is not acceptable. As the monitor has repeatedly reported, Rikers is a danger to people detained there and those who work there. The city under Mayor Adams is not following the law, not reducing violence, not advancing the jail closure plan but instead sending more people to be caged. For our members and allies, there is no time to waste as people detained at Rikers continue to languish and die due to continued constitutional violations. That is why we urge the court to move swiftly and expeditiously. Until Rikers is shut down, the court must appoint an independent receiver to improve conditions and save lives.”
Background:
Since Mayor Adams took office, Rikers has been mired in worsening, overlapping crises. As violence spikes and dysfunction reign at the Department of Correction, at least 33 people have died in NYC jails under Mayor Adams. As the situation in city jails has become more dire, the Adams administration has sought to hide those problems from the public and the federal courts alike. These, and a myriad of other problems, have prompted the federal court to be on the verge of taking control of city jails away from Mayor Adams and appointing an independent federal receiver.
The New York City Council has yet to take a position on receivership. A resolution in support of federal receivership at Rikres, Res. 183, currently has 22 co-sponsors, but has yet to see a hearing.
#ShutRikers is a campaign of the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice. Katal and our allies are working to cut the correctional populations and the budgets used for caging people; shut down Rikers Island; and invest in real public safety: housing, health care, education, and jobs.
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