Comparing it to “Lord of the Flies,” Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara on Monday called Rikers Island a “broken institution” run amok with excessive force by guards and a place where the civil rights of teenage inmates are routinely violated.
“The adolescents in Rikers are walled off from the public, but they are not walled off from the Constitution,” Bharara said during a conference announcing the results of a two-and-a-half-year Justice Department probe.
“They are entitled to be detained safely … not consigned to a corrections crucible that seems more inspired by ‘Lord of the Flies’ than any legitimate philosophy of humane detention,” added Bhahara, comparing prison life at the East River island nestled between The Bronx and Queens to William Golding’s 1954 novel about a group of shipwrecked British teens who try governing themselves on a deserted island with deadly results.
Bharara spelled out his office’s findings in a scathing 79-page report addressed to Mayor deBlasio and two other top city officials, which seeks immediate reform at Rikers – particularly its three juvenile jail facilities.
It describes Rikers as a “dangerous place for adolescents” where correction officers use excessive force on teens at an “alarming rate” – many times in so-called “forget-about-me” cells and other prison areas without video surveillance cameras. The report also notes that many of the affected inmates are vulnerable because they suffer from mental illness.
The findings in the report, which covers 2011 through 2013, include:
- Of the 798 males ages 16 to 18 in custody as of October 2012, 43.7 percent were subjected to force by Department of Correction staff at least once.
- In 2012, there were 517 reported staff use-of-force incidents at Rikers’ two biggest jail facilities that host the most teen inmates, resulting in 1,059 injuries. There were 565 in 2013, resulting in 1057 injuries.
- There were 845 reported inmate-on-inmate fights involving adolescents at the two facilities in fiscal 2013.
- In one year, teen inmates sustained 239 head injuries and 96 suspected fractures.
- In fiscal 2013, adolescent inmates requested emergency medical help 459 times.
The report says “the most egregious inmate beatings” routinely take place in locations without video cameras, such as some classrooms, clinics, holding pens and select cells.
“Inmates, correction officers, and supervisors are well aware of these locations,” the report says. “Some even have names. For instance, the [Robert N. Davoren Center] intake cells are reportedly known as ‘forget about me’ cells.”
The report also notes that Bhahara’s office during its probe requested video surveillance for about 200 incidents — only to be told by DOC honchos that more than 35 percent of those recordings could “not be located.”
“The missing video surveillance is alarming,” the report says.
But even when incidents are reported, little actions apparently gets taken. One officer, for instance, was involved in 76 use-of-force incidents between 2007 and 2012 — but was only disciplined once, the report says.
The report also notes that the many of the same problems likely hold true for adult inmates on Rikers, including that they are alleged victims of poor staff training and overuse of solitary confinement.
“While we did not specifically investigate the use of force against the adult inmate population, our investigation suggests that the systemic deficiencies identified in this report may exist in equal measure at the other jails on Rikers,” prosecutors wrote in the report.
The report contains more than 70 recommendations for changes that the feds would like to see the de Blasio administration make, including mandating that the city house adolescent inmates in DOC jails not located on Rikers. Other recommendations include increasing use of surveillance cameras, revising its use-of-force policy and creating a zero-tolerance policy for staff who fail to report suspicious behavior by officers.
Bhahara noted that his findings predate deBlasio taking office in January and then tapping Joseph Ponte as DOC commissioner. He said he was hopeful the city would implement many of the proposed changes — but warned that his office could file civil litigation if it is not satisfied.
Ponte in a statement said “excessive use of force … will not be tolerated under my watch.” He said many of the government’s recommendations have already been implemented and that DOC was seen a 39 percent drop in use-of-force incidents at Rikers, from 31 in April to 19 in June.
“We will continue to work with [the Justice Department] to implement whatever additional strategies and policies are appropriate,” he said.
Norman Seabrook, president of the city’s Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, said DOC had been “plagued with mismanagement for years” and that the union welcomes some of the report’s suggestions. However, he defended some uses of force.
“There may be a few that react with what you might think is excessive force,” said Seabrook, “but in defense of an officer being assaulted by an inmate, a correction officer must use whatever force is necessary to terminate the assault.”
Dora Schriro, who was DOC commissioner during the period the agency was investigated and is now the commissioner of Connecticut’s emergency services department, did not respond to a request for comment.
Rikers in the past year has come under serious scrutiny.
Authorities in June raided Rikers looking for weapons, drugs and other contraband — focusing on correction officers’ lockers and break rooms. It was part of a larger investigation to root out corruption after complaints that guards supply inmates with drugs and weapons. A dozen guards could face criminal charges.
Meanwhile, the grisly deaths of two inmates — one who “baked to death” in his overheated cell in February and another who in September sexually mutilated himself while locked up alone for seven days — have raised questions about the jail’s ability to deal with a burgeoning number of mentally ill people.