Politics
Politics
DOC critic Jacqueline Sherman tapped for reappointment to Board of Correction
The mayor's office had hoped to replace Sherman when her term expired, but a behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign succeeded in keeping her on the board of the jails watchdog.
Politics
Politics
Council Member Inna Vernikov brought a gun to a protest. Did she break the law?
Openly carrying a pistol to a college protest could fall afoul of New York state’s strict gun laws.
Rikers Island
Politics
Federal monitor concludes DOC is incapable of running Rikers well
The monitor’s latest report finds that stabbings are up, deaths in custody are continuing and nothing will change so long as DOC is in charge.
Policy
Policy
DOC stopped providing tampons to detainees – despite 2016 law mandating it
The Department of Correction has a problem with menstruation, amid fears that tampons will be used to smoke drugs and menstrual cups will be used for “splashings.”
Education
Policy
Major felony crimes up in New York City schools
School safety has been a major focus after a string of high-profile incidents occurred outside school buildings last year.
Policy
Policy
Judge rejects state prison system’s attempt to dismiss lawsuit over solitary confinement
The class action lawsuit was filed by a group of people incarcerated in state prisons, including one man who was sent to solitary confinement for 120 days after throwing sugar packets and urinating on the floor.
News & Politics
Politics
Top DOC lawyer Paul Shechtman resigns
Shechtman’s decision to quietly step down last week suggests DOC Commissioner Louis Molina’s legal arguments may not even pass the smell test with his own lawyers.
News & Politics
Politics
Divisions within oversight agency may imperil lawsuit against DOC
The mayor’s new appointees could shift the balance of power on the Board of Correction, leading the watchdog agency to abandon its lawsuit against DOC.
Policy
Policy
Dying man’s cries for help at Rikers Island went unheeded, fellow detainees say
Two people in the same unit recalled how jail guards failed to respond to Donny Ubiera’s fight for his life.
Heard Around Town
Policy
NYPD doesn’t need to be more detailed in tech transparency, official says
“I'm more concerned about public safety and keeping people safe and being true to the spirit of the law,” Ruben Beltran said, when asked about criticisms of POST Act compliance.
Policy
Policy
After PR stunts, damning reports and a new lawsuit, judge sets stage for potential federal takeover of Rikers next year
Federal judge Laura Taylor Swain is losing patience with the city Department of Correction, which has now come under fire from the court-appointed federal monitor, Legal Aid Society, federal prosecutors, city comptroller and Board of Correction.
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion: Judicial independence or intimidation?
The same judicial organizations who condemned academics for publishing a paper about judges setting excessive bail were silent when a judge was reassigned for declining to set bail.
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion: Closing Rikers is the joke of the decade
There’s no way Rikers will be replaced by four borough-based jails by 2027. So let’s reform Rikers instead.
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion: Eric Adams has failed. It’s time for a federal receiver to take over at Rikers
Receivership is the only way to improve conditions and save lives at the troubled jail complex
Criminal Justice
Politics
What needs to change at Rikers? Everything.
We asked more than a dozen criminal justice experts. They urged staying the course on borough-based jails – and many called for a federal takeover of Rikers in the meantime.
Policy
Policy
More people have died in New York City jails than previously known
Since 2014, at least 120 people held in city jails have died while in custody or shortly after being released on medical grounds – but some of those deaths have gone unreported.
Policy
Policy
Here's how parents are really treated on Rikers
Unable to exercise their parental rights, incarcerated fathers and mothers can often feel isolated from their children.
Heard Around Town
Policy
Poll: New Yorkers support Wrongful Convictions Act
The vast majority of people polled last month supported legislation that would make it easier to overturn wrongful convictions.
Rikers Island
Policy
Elected officials sound the alarm on proposed city budget cuts to Rikers
Amid proposed cuts to jail-based programming, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams says the Eric Adams administration is at a crossroads
NYPD
Policy