Judge holds NYC in contempt over worsening conditions at Rikers, says federal takeover likely

A federal judge held New York City in contempt of court Wednesday for failing to improve conditions at Rikers and other jails — and the scathing ruling says the judge is now “inclined” to place the entire correctional system under federal control.

The bombshell ruling from Manhattan Federal Court Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain found that the city has failed to implement 18 sweeping reforms NYC agreed to enact under the 2015 Nunez federal consent decree aimed at improving safety for staff and inmates on Rikers Island and in other city jails operated by the Department of Correction.

As a result, Swain ruled the Adams administration is in contempt of the 2015 decree on all 18 points, including key measures such as deaths in custody and violence behind bars.

“The use of force rate and other rates of violence, self-harm, and deaths in custody are demonstrably worse than when the Consent Judgment went into effect in 2015,” she wrote.

“As the record in this case demonstrates, the current rates of use of force, stabbings and slashings, fights, assaults on staff, and in-custody deaths remain extraordinarily high, and there has been no substantial reduction in the risk of harm currently facing those who live and work in the Rikers Island jails.”

For that reason, the judge  wrote she’s all but certain to strip control of the jail system from the Department of Correction and instead let the federal government take over day-to-day operations under a “receivership” structure.

“The Court is inclined to impose a receivership: namely, a remedy that will make the management of the use of force and safety aspects of the Rikers Island jails ultimately answerable directly to the Court,” she wrote in her 65-page ruling.

A spokeswoman for the mayor said she did not have any immediate comment.

Swain has several times before hinted she believes a receivership is in order, including soliciting proposals from the Legal Aid Society, which filed the lawsuit that resulted in the 2015 decree, for how the federal takeover would look. However, the judge has never before stated outright she is likely to place the system under such a structure.

With Graham Rayman

This story will be updated 

Originally Published: November 27, 2024 at 11:16 AM EST