Judge Finds New York in Contempt, Clearing the Way for Rikers Takeover

A federal judge overseeing New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex on Wednesday found the city in contempt for failing to stem violence and excessive force at the facility, and said she was leaning toward taking control of the city’s jails.

The judge, Laura Taylor Swain, said in a 65-page opinion that the city and its Department of Correction had violated the constitutional rights of prisoners and staff members alike by exposing them to danger, and had intentionally ignored her orders.

The judge wrote that she was “inclined” to impose an outside authority, known as a receiver, which she said would be 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 ordered the city and lawyers representing prisoners to devise a plan for a receivership by Jan. 14.

“This is a historic decision,” said the Legal Aid Society and one of the private firms that filed the class-action lawsuit. “The culture of brutality on Rikers Island has resisted judicial and political reform efforts for years.”

The city has spent huge sums on its Correction Department, which now holds more than 6,000 detainees, many of whom are awaiting trials. New York has spent more than $400,000 a year per inmate — more than six times the average in other large U.S. cities — but Rikers has broken down in fundamental ways, with some detainees wandering around unsupervised outside of their cells and others going without food or basic medical care.

The situation has continued to devolve no matter who the mayor or the Correction Department commissioner is, with reform efforts turned aside by politics and a powerful correction officers’ union. A judge could grant a receiver the power to dissolve or alter labor contracts like the one that provides officers with protections like unlimited sick leave, which critics have said hinders improvement in the jails. In recent years, as many as one in three jailers have failed to show up for work each day.