Federal Prosecutor Asks Judge to Strip New York of Control Over Rikers

The New York Times, November 18, 2023: Federal Prosecutor Asks Judge to Strip New York of Control Over Rikers

“The federal government on Friday formally joined an effort to strip Mayor Eric Adams’s administration of control over Rikers Island, asking a judge to hand oversight of the troubled jail complex to an outside authority.

“Joining lawyers who represent people detained in New York City jails, Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, Damian Williams, wrote in a court filing that the appointment of an outside authority, known as a receiver, was the only solution to the persistent violence and chaos at Rikers.

“Mr. Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, had previously called for a takeover in July. The day after that statement, the judge who will decide on a takeover, Laura Taylor Swain of Federal District Court, wrote that the Adams administration had failed to ‘address the dangerous conditions that perpetually plague the jails.’ In August, she set a schedule for federal prosecutors and detainees’ lawyers to argue in favor of receivership; Friday’s filings were the first step in that lengthy process.

“The Department of Justice has sought this kind of remedy in ‘only a handful of corrections cases and under exceptional circumstances,’ Mr. Williams wrote on Friday, adding that the city under two mayors and four correction commissioners had been ‘unable or unwilling’ to make reforms that would reduce violence and ‘remedy the ongoing violation of the constitutional rights of people in custody.’

“The parties also asked that Judge Swain hold the city in contempt for violating a 2015 agreement that required it to make sweeping reforms.”

Additional reading:

CBS New York, November 18, 2023: Rally held to call for justice for inmates who have died on Rikers Island

yes! Magazine, November 7, 2023: The Vision of a Renewable Rikers Island in NYC

The New York Times, October 19, 2023: As Conditions Worsen at Rikers, New Commission Revives Push to Close It