Dear friends,
I used to write regularly about conditions on Rikers Island. I haven’t written as much recently, because Mayor Adams seemed impervious to pressure and I was stymied by the failure of the federal judge supervising the monitoring team to put the facilities into receivership.
As the violence — and the population at Rikers — has escalated, it’s become clear that the judge needs to hear from us.
Receiverships are designed for situations like this. When a local or state government proves unable or unwilling to improve a distressed public institution that has long defied federal law, a federal court can take the troubled entity out of the government’s hands and appoint a “receiver” — a nonpartisan expert — to assume direct control, with an eye towards reform.
The special report revealed that James Carlton, 40, who was taken down by officers on May 11, “has since undergone three surgeries and…is now paralyzed from the neck down.”
Attorneys from the Legal Aid Society representing plaintiffs have called on Judge Swain to schedule a ‘special conference’. They are urging her to put federal authorities in the position to implement reforms that the commissioner has repeatedly failed to make.
The effort to cover up the incident which left James Carlton paralyzed and to promptly report the death of Rubu Zhao, who died in a unit for people with mental illness, graphically illustrates what Martin has described in increasingly dire reports since his appointment in 2015.
So far, Martin has issued 13 quarterly reports primarily detailing how violence has steadily gotten worse since he was appointed. The reports have also highlighted how the Department of Correction has failed to revamp its internal investigations unit and allowed hundreds of allegations of abuse to simply expire after they failed to meet strict timelines based on union collective bargaining agreements.
The revelation that Valles had a fractured skull, confirmed by multiple people familiar with the autopsy report, raises further questions about the DOC's initial suggestion that he simply suffered a heart attack, and raises the possibility that instead, he fell victim to the endemic violence of Rikers Island that gave rise to the monitorship.
Just days after Martin issued his special report, there was testimony at a City Council hearing by people formerly detained at Rikers that the DOC is failing to deliver people held there to court appearances.
People are held at Rikers to compel them to go to court. DOC officials insist that people miss court appearances because they refuse to go. But if they can’t get to court, they also can’t be released. That’s some catch, that Catch-22.
Some court appearances, like those to finalize plea deals or to remove bail, almost guarantee a detainee’s release, according to Joshua White, an attorney with New York County Defender Services.
“They have absolutely every reason to come to court, so when I’m told they’re refusing, I know it’s simply not true,” he said.
Not getting to court lengthens time in detention. Average stays at Rikers have gotten much longer in the last six years. This makes it all the more galling that so much energy was expended to increase the likelihood that people would be held on bail.
Email Judge Laura Swain and tell her that receivership is overdue. I made it easy.
Another sinister Catch 22 is the raise promised to home care workers that went instead to insurance companies.
Because there was no rule that insurance companies must give home care agencies the money to pay these raises, agencies were forced to cut benefits, stop allowing personal assistants to work overtime, and even stop accepting complex cases or new cases at all.
A bill introduced by state senators Gustavo Rivera and Rachel May and Assembly member Amy Paulin would close the loophole and ensure that the money they voted to give to worker raises doesn't keep going to insurance CEOs.
Close the accountability loophole to raise pay for home care workers. This quick action is from CDPAANYS.
I know you’re thinking about summer plans, but first, you must get ready for primary elections for City Council this June.
Warm up for primary season — and find out if your council member is facing challengers with The City’s Get to know your district.
Saturday, June 17 is the last day to register to vote in the primary.
Register to vote in time for the June 27 primary!
with love,
L