BOLDEST
BLOG

YES, NYC’S RIKERS ISLAND IS AWFUL, BUT MAYOR DE BLASIO HAS FEW SOLUTIONS

Mayor de Blasio on Wednesday acknowledged the developing crisis on Rikers Island, but that’s about it.

“These are serious problems that need to be be addressed,” the mayor said. “The whole culture of the Department of Correction needs a lot of change.”

De Blasio blamed the problems on the pandemic, but offered no solutions or plans to turn the troubled jail complex around.

The problems on Rikers — including days-long waits for a bed, unending quarantine periods, unstaffed units, and a decline in security and basic services, like food and medical assistance — have been reported extensively by the Daily News.

On Tuesday, the federal monitor overseeing Rikers issued a report which confirmed conditions are deteriorating. While the correction unions insist it’s a result of low staffing and the DOC claims the cause is officers calling in sick or going AWOL, monitor Steve Martin said the system has the resources and the staff, and it’s a management problem.

 

U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who oversees the monitor, called the findings “deeply disturbing” on Wednesday. “The court … looks forward to an update that will indicate that concrete steps are being taken by the city and the department to address the serious problems described in the report,” she wrote in a filing.

De Blasio though offered little Wednesday in the way of fixes. “COVID clearly had a really, really big impact on this situation and created a whole host of challenges, but we’re going to work our way through it,” he said.

The mayor also underscored his commitment to closing the notorious city jail complex. An $8 billion plan was approved in 2019 to close it and build four new borough jails, but resistance is building from neighborhood groups, some local politicians and the correction unions.

“We’re going to close Rikers Island,” he said. “There may be folks who want us to go back in time. This is an 80-plus year old facility that doesn’t make sense anymore. It is based on a punitive, negative dynamic when what we need is a dynamic focused on how we redeem people, turn their lives around, make them positive members of society again.”

The jail population is at 5,968, up 49% from where it was in July 2020 at just under 4,000.

De Blasio said the 2020 number was the result of an effort to get people out of Rikers so they wouldn’t be exposed to the virus.

 

He disputed the notion that it’s because judges are setting bail at a higher rate under political pressure to address the violent crime spike.

“What is clear is the court system also wasn’t functioning a year ago so we were seeing all sorts of situations that would have normally led to someone ending up in Rikers as part of a functioning criminal justice system. It wasn’t happening,” he said. “That is now happening again, particularly for violent offenses and that’s necessary.”

But Alice Frontier, managing director of Neighborhood Defender Services of Harlem, called the mayor’s comments “disingenuous,” and said the reason for the increase isn’t gun violence, but cash bail.

“Prosecutors continue to seek bail, and courts continue set it — not just for ‘gun violence’ as the mayor claims, but on almost any case in which the court is legally allowed to set cash bail,” she said. “Every day, poor New Yorkers are packed into Rikers simply because they cannot pay for their freedom.”

LETTER FROM BENNY BOSCIO
President

Welcome to the official website of The Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association (COBA). COBA is the second-largest law enforcement union in the City of New York. Our members are New York City Correction Officers, also known as New York City’s Boldest, who supervise the second-largest municipal jail system in the nation. COBA is committed to advocating for safer working conditions, wage increases, and excellent benefits for all our members.

Our website was designed to provide helpful information on the latest issues impacting our members and their families. You can also find our official union publications, news clips, and learn about upcoming events.

FOLLOW US

STATEMENT FROM COBA PRESIDENT BENNY BOSCIO ON THE FEDERAL MONITOR'S SPECIAL REPORT RELEASED ON MAY 26, 2023

“After being appointed nearly 8 yrs ago and receiving some $20 million in consulting fees by NYC taxpayers, the latest Federal Monitor’s biased and one-sided “special report” is no different than the nearly 36 reports that came before it.

If the Monitor is interested in cherry picking data in a two week period, why then does he exclude the brazen assaults on our officers committed by repeat violent offenders in that same period? Or why does he exclude the numbers of inmates whose lives have been saved thanks to Correction Officers? The reality is that the Federal Monitor and his team have strayed very far from their original mission and this new report conveniently excludes key data showing any progress that is being made to combat jail violence, which is largely the result of the dedication and hard work of our officers serving on the frontlines.

These reports now serve only to provide politically-driven talking points for the City Council and the Board of Correction so they can continue to second guess and scapegoat our members, instead of providing oversight over the monitoring team and asking them what have they really accomplished in eight years to make our jails safer? It’s time for the Monitoring team to go!’

Benny Boscio
COBA President