By Philip Marcelo via AP News
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday directed New York City officials to begin
developing a plan for a possible federal takeover of Rikers Island, following a hearing in
Manhattan in a long-running case over abuse, mismanagement and other chronic problems at one
of the nation’s largest and most notorious jails.
U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain stopped short of issuing a formal order handing the jail
system over to federal authorities, but she said city officials should meet in the coming days with
federal officials and inmate advocates to sketch out a potential path forward.
She instructed them to develop by Nov. 12 a “leadership reform plan” that would address, among
other things, the parameters for appointing an independent receiver, including the powers,
responsibilities and qualifications of such an outside overseer for the city jails.
Swain said she would also rule before then on whether to hold the city in contempt of
long-standing court orders mandating reforms at Rikers, which houses more than 6,000 inmates
on an island in the East River in the Bronx.
The judge made the declarations after hearing two hours of arguments from lawyers for the city,
federal government and inmate advocates.
Jeffrey Powell, a lawyer with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, argued the city should be
held in contempt because Rikers Island is “more violent and less safe” than it was when court
ordered reforms were imposed nearly a decade ago in 2015.
He said reports of use of force by correction officers as well as inmate violence, including
slashings, stabbings, fires and fights, have all increased. More than 30 people have also died
while in custody or immediately after their release over the past two years, he said.
“Court orders must be followed, and this department has not followed them,” Powell said. “It
must be held in contempt.”
But Alan Scheiner, a lawyer for the city, disputed the notion that incidents of violence and abuse
are on the rise, saying there have been marked improvements at the jail since Lynelle
Maginley-Liddie took over as commissioner of the city Department of Correction last December.
“No doubt DOC can do better, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not trying to meet the court’s
expectations,” he said.
Kayla Simpson, a lawyer for the Legal Aid Society, which brought the original lawsuit, argued
that the dozens of reports filed by a federal monitor appointed in 2016 to oversee the
court-mandated reforms show the agency leadership doesn’t have the capacity for change and
more drastic measures are needed.
Quoting from the first page of the monitor’s recent report, she said the jails remain “dangerous
and unsafe” because of “pervasive dysfunction in the jails’ management” that “perpetuate a toxic
culture.” Swain at points also pressed the city’s lawyer on his claims that things were turning around at the jails.
“We’ve been here before,” she said at one point, echoing arguments from lawyers for the federal
government and inmate advocates. “We’ve seen the positive signs and then the backsliding.”
