A federal judge opened the door on Tuesday for a federal takeover of city jails following a series of scathing court filings that described escalating violence and correction officials hiding information about violent incidents, including deaths.
U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain concluded a three-hour emergency hearing by saying she would allow defense attorneys and federal prosecutors to file papers in court this summer arguing for the appointment of a federal official, known as a receiver, who would take control of Rikers Island and other city lockups.
“Receivership would be an extraordinary step here,” Swain said.
But after reading recent reports by the federal monitor who oversees Rikers Island detailing five incidents, including one in which a man was left paralyzed after officers tackled him; and another in which a man was ignored by staff and left “naked and alone” after being beaten by other detainees, Swain said her “confidence in the commitment of city leadership ... has been shaken.”
Such a takeover would represent a stinging rebuke to the administration of Mayor Eric Adams, who one year ago introduced an “action plan” to help end the humanitarian crisis at Rikers.
At the time, Steve Martin, the federal monitor in place for nearly eight years, praised the plan. Now, he says the city has provided such inaccurate and limited information about violence at the jails that progress, or lack thereof, is hard to ascertain. Martin was particularly bothered by what he described as misleading information provided by correction officials about a man who died of a fractured skull.
Attorneys for the Legal Aid Society, a public defender agency that filed a lawsuit over jail conditions that led a judge to appoint Martin as federal monitor, first sought a federal receiver last year. But Swain denied attorneys the opportunity to even make a motion.
The conversation over the last week around receivership had shifted. Martin’s court filings showed that stabbings, use of force, and other violence indicators have only worsened during his tenure. He accused Correction Commissioner Louis Molina of providing little or inaccurate information about officers’ involvement in those incidents, and failing to promptly report deaths in custody.
Molina defended his actions in the media. Martin later rebuked him for doing so in a court filing, saying such comments “undermine the monitoring team’s findings and credibility.”
On Tuesday, the judge also questioned why Molina showed parts of surveillance videos depicting two of the incidents to two selected reporters. Molina said he wanted to tell the public that the incidents highlighted by the monitor are not reflective of the overall state of the jails.
He said certain violence numbers have decreased since he was appointed last year. Three people have died after stays at Rikers Island this year; 19 detainees died last year.
“The department we inherited was on the brink of collapse,” Molina said.
While Martin didn’t say on Tuesday that the monitoring team supported receivership, an attorney from the office of U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York Jeffrey Powell said that his office would consider filing such a motion this summer.
He said that “the constitutional rights of people in city jails continue to be violated on a daily basis,” and “staff continue to be injured on a regular basis due to the high level of violence in these facilities.“
Unlike the federal monitor, who makes recommendations to the judge, a federal receiver could take unilateral action when it comes to hiring and firing staff, signing and scrapping contracts, and changing work rules.
The judge said she will entertain motions for a federal receiver after the monitor’s next report on the city jails is filed on July 10. Those arguments would be considered at a hearing on Aug. 10.
