Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Federal government seeks to take over New York City’s Rikers Island prison
Just The News ^ | November 20, 2023 11:00pm | By The Center Square Staff

Posted on 11/21/2023 5:15:16 AM PST by Red Badger

The federal government wants to take over control of New York City's largest jail, citing rising violence and other troubling conditions.

In a court filing, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams asks a federal judge to approve receivership for Riker's Island and calls for the city to be "held accountable" for not making good on promises to enact reforms at the jail.

The move, if approved, could lead to a rare judicial order that could see the notorious jail complex turned over to a court-appointed authority.

"Rikers Island has been in crisis for years," Williams said in a statement. "But after eight years of trying every tool in the toolkit, we cannot wait any longer for substantial progress to materialize."

Williams cited a "pattern of unnecessary force" by correctional officers at the jail, including the use of "high impact force and head strikes" against inmates.

Mayor Eric Adams has pledged to shut down Rikers Island by 2027, but criminal justice advocates and others are skeptical that his administration will meet that deadline. The 400-acre jail, which houses an average of 6,000 detainees, has been operating under a federal consent decree since 2015.

Good government groups such as the Legal Aid Society and Citizens Union have also been adding to the calls for a turning over Rikers Island to federal receivership.

"Too many lives have been lost and damaged due to the city's inability to manage the jails humanely," the Legal Aid Society said in a statement. "We look forward to working together to seek the relief necessary to end this culture of brutality."

Seven people have died at Rikers this year while in custody or after being released, according to data released by a federal monitor appointed to investigate violence at the facility. At least 28 detainees have died in New York City Department of Correction custody over the past two years, the monitor said.

In August, U.S. District Court Judge Laura Swain cleared the way for the city-run jail to be placed under federal receivership to address systemic violence and substandard conditions in the facility.

Swain said the Adams administration has failed to address the "dangerous conditions" in the jail and said inmates at the island prison are "at a grave risk of immediate harm."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS:
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-64 next last

1 posted on 11/21/2023 5:15:16 AM PST by Red Badger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Shoot. The feds want to clear that place out to make room for folks like us.


2 posted on 11/21/2023 5:17:26 AM PST by Mathews (I have faith Malachi is right!!! Any day now...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

A place to store the Jay Sixers?


3 posted on 11/21/2023 5:17:29 AM PST by FlingWingFlyer (It wasn't "genocide" when Hamas did it. Hypocrites!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
Great! The Feds never mess anything up!


4 posted on 11/21/2023 5:17:44 AM PST by GrandJediMasterYoda (As long as Hillary Clinton remains free, the USA will never have equal justice under the law)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Now we get to watch them take something bad and make it even worse.


5 posted on 11/21/2023 5:17:47 AM PST by cyclotic (It's a great time to live in America. It's like the collapse of the Roman Empire except with wi-fi)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Good, our first gulag.


6 posted on 11/21/2023 5:18:00 AM PST by struggle
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: struggle

Gitmo North!....................


7 posted on 11/21/2023 5:20:10 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Mathews

Alcatraz is unused at the moment..................


8 posted on 11/21/2023 5:20:42 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

9 posted on 11/21/2023 5:21:11 AM PST by Dr. Sivana ("If you can’t say something nice . . . say the Rosary." [Red Badger])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Brian got busted on a narco rap
He beat the rap by rattin’ on some bikers
He said, hey, I know it’s dangerous
But it sure beats Riker’s
But the next day he got offed
By the very same bikers

-Jim Carroll (People Who Died)


10 posted on 11/21/2023 5:21:53 AM PST by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: struggle
Good, our first gulag.
~~~~
They need to expand the boundary some...


11 posted on 11/21/2023 5:22:27 AM PST by z3n (Kakistocracy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Sivana

I was too slow >.<


12 posted on 11/21/2023 5:23:12 AM PST by z3n (Kakistocracy)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

I assume the staff has not been trained properly.

Replacing the big wigs by itself will not change that.

Rikers is a building. Urban schools are buildings.

Buildings are not generally cursed. The faults usually walk on two legs.


13 posted on 11/21/2023 5:24:38 AM PST by Brian Griffin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

I read the article and what was glaringly missing was who will supply the money to run the facility. A judge can say to X, I’m taking this away and giving it to Y, but he can’t give Y the money to run the facility. I’d say that, therefore, the judge is doing something he should be banned from doing. Suppose X, now relieved of the responsibility, stops paying the guards. They all go look for other work. What happens to the prisoners? (I can already hear people typing, “Who cares?” Yeah, got it. But let’s get real.)


14 posted on 11/21/2023 5:28:27 AM PST by Gen.Blather (Wait! I said that out loud? )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
Get ready,New Yorkers...The Big Guy's Department of Just Us will empty the place...citing “civil rights” violations. And then we'll see what happens to the murder rate...rapes...armed robberies...home invasions.
15 posted on 11/21/2023 5:31:07 AM PST by Gay State Conservative (Proudly Clinging To My Guns And My Religion)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Here we go again. New York City wants the USA taxpayers to pay the cost of housing inmates in their NEW YORK CITY PRISON.


16 posted on 11/21/2023 5:31:25 AM PST by Presbyterian Reporter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Could have to do with their manic TDS delusions.


17 posted on 11/21/2023 5:31:40 AM PST by Track9 (You are far too inquisitive not to be seduced…)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: z3n

Donald Pleasance was the guy who played the blind forger in The Great Escape.


18 posted on 11/21/2023 5:32:24 AM PST by Gay State Conservative (Proudly Clinging To My Guns And My Religion)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

“””Good government groups such as the Legal Aid Society and Citizens Union have also been adding to the calls for a turning over Rikers Island to federal receivership.”””


“”Good government groups”” aka as Socialists/Communists.


19 posted on 11/21/2023 5:33:44 AM PST by Presbyterian Reporter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger; Pelham; Travis McGee

Typically feds run correctional facilities better

More money
Pay staff better

Used to be biggest reason was feds had higher caliber prisoner or accused

Crack laws changed that

Rikers
Dade county downtown or the old stockade
Orleans parish
Shelby county
Los Angeles county holding
Cook county
Newark

Those are hell holes

If your white child ends up in one you better sell all you have to get them out before they get to the GP


20 posted on 11/21/2023 5:35:03 AM PST by wardaddy (I have seen true anti semitism is more common in USA than I imagined. A disease in the public mind)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-64 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson