Make New York Post a Preferred Source New York City’s embattled jail system saw a whopping 76% spike in penalties handed out to inmates for fights and assaults, new data shows.
Arrests in jail also soared as a federal court-appointed manager assumed control over Rikers Island.
The Department of Correction dished out 15,035 fight and assault infractions in violence-plagued Rikers and other city lockups during the fiscal year ending June 30, compared to 8,528 the previous 12 months, according to the annual Mayor’s Management Report.
Although city jails saw overall improvement in reported serious violent incidents and serious injury to inmates, assaults on staff by detainees spiked by nearly 5%.
Jailbirds who receive infractions face being moved out of the general population and into restrictive housing and losing privileges like phone usage.
It’s unclear how many of the infractions involved fellow inmates or jail staff.
Arrests in jail of individuals already in custody rose 8%, from 436 to 469.
The crackdown came as Manhattan federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain stripped operational oversight of city jails from the DOC and turned control over to Nicholas Deml, the former head of the Vermont Department of Corrections, as an independent remediation manager.
Swain made the move in January after determining the city failed to comply with court-ordered remedies aimed at ending decades of alleged civil-rights violations on Rikers, which include unsanitary living conditions and excessive use of force by guards.
In the Mayor’s Management Report, the DOC didn’t attribute the crackdown to Rikers’ new leadership or being under federal oversight.
Instead, it only said that “the increase occurred during a period in which the department placed more emphasis on issuing infractions for misconduct and on pursuing appropriate jail-based arrests.”
DOC spokesman Patrick Rocchio told The Post the agency “is committed to working with the federal remediation manager and federal monitor to improve conditions in our city’s jails for staff and people in custody.”
“We believe in holding accountable as appropriate people in custody who assault correctional staff or others in custody,” added Rocchio.
Benny Boscio, president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, called the DOC issuing more infractions for misconduct and making more arrests “a step in the right direction.”
But Boscio said tougher enforcement alone won’t fix what’s driving the violence.
“However, combating the root of these violent incidents must also be prioritized, which begins with immediately replacing the hundreds of inoperable cell doors that enable violent inmates to pop out of their cells and attack our correction officers and other inmates with impunity,” he said.
“We live in a city where bridges, skyscrapers, tunnels, and major infrastructure projects are completed in less time than it takes to ensure all the cell doors at Rikers Island actually work. That is inexcusable!”
