Rikers detainees at ‘imminent risk' of harm; federal monitor alleges five new ‘disturbing’ incidents

Leaders of the city jails are withholding information about grisly incidents, including a case in which a detainee was viciously beaten then left naked and ignored by staff for hours, according to the federal monitor overseeing Rikers Island.

In a “special report” filed in federal court, Federal Monitor Steve J. Martin took aim at Correction Commissioner Louis Molina over the handling of five incidents in city jails in May that Martin said are representative of a larger trend. The report criticizes city officials for failing to properly investigate correction officers’ lethal use of force and neglecting to provide emergency medical care.

“Serious, life-altering harm has occurred, and an imminent risk of harm to others in custody remains,” Martin wrote. He said that the department appears to be violating court orders intended to keep detainees safe.

In a statement, Molina did not address the specific incidents referenced in the new report, but asserted that safety, staff absenteeism, training, hiring and the transportation of detainees to court has improved since he was appointed by Mayor Eric Adams in January 2022. “We have brought this organization back from the brink of collapse and we will not be deterred in continuing our good work,” Molina said.

The report stems from information that the monitor gleaned via outside sources and video surveillance, notwithstanding the alleged lack of cooperation from Molina and department brass, about injuries and death in May involving five detainees:

• A detainee in his 80s with “possible cognitive impairment, seriously underlying health issues and limited English proficiency” was handcuffed behind his back and left alone in a pen without a sink or toilet for at least four hours on May 20, shortly after he arrived at Rikers. The incident began after the detainee refused to enter a holding pen, and staffers “pulled and twisted his arms for approximately 30 seconds” to get him into restraints. An unnamed associate correction commissioner then met with the detainee, but “did not appear to take action regarding his condition.” The elderly man was not taken to the medical clinic until the following day, where he was found to have blood in his urine. At that point he was brought to the intensive care unit at Bellevue Hospital, where he was “compassionately released” from city custody.
• On May 11, a detainee ran out of an elevator without authorization. Officers took him down, handcuffed him behind the pack, and put him in leg restraints. The detainee then appeared to jerk his leg toward a staff member’s head, which led officers to take him down the floor. While being held, the detainee apparently couldn’t support his own weight and fell to the ground, repeatedly hitting his head on the way down, including on the concrete floor. He has now undergone three surgeries and is paralyzed from the neck down. Department leadership claimed that the paralysis is a result of a pre-existing medical condition, but the monitor said the “basis for the department’s claims is unknown and its veracity and accuracy are questionable at best,” given the officers’ use of force.
• After a man was assaulted by multiple other detainees on May 17, he was in “obvious distress” but was “left naked and alone for at least three hours.” And “although the video shows multiple staff passing by him during this time, none provided assistance.” When the man was ultimately hospitalized, he was found to be severely injured with multiple rib injuries, requiring intubation and the removal of his spleen. The incident was not reported to the monitor and only came to light via other sources. The monitor was also denied a briefing on the incident. “The monitoring team’s review of the video suggests that there are aspects of this incident that may be criminal in nature,” the report said.
• A detainee in his early 30s, who has since been “compassionately released,” was put on life support and determined to be unlikely to survive after suffering what the department described to the monitoring team as a heart attack. But while the department insisted “no foul play occurred” and said there was “no departmental wrongdoing,” according to the report, the monitor could not confirm that these assertions are true.
• A detainee, Rubu Zhao, died by suicide after he jumped off a tier on May 14. In violation of court orders governing the monitor’s oversight of the jails, the department failed to report the death to the monitoring team within 24 hours, and the team only found out via the media, according to the report. The monitor said that Molina initially claimed requests for information about the incident went to correction leaders’ spam email folders.

“Not only are the incidents summarized above disturbing because of the unsafe practices utilized and severity of physical harm—including death—involved, but they also cast serious doubt on the department’s compliance with a basic tenet of reform, which is to accurately record incidents so that underlying problems can be identified and resolved,” Martin concluded.

'Fuel the flames'

The monitor and his team have overseen city jails for nearly eight years, after having been appointed as part of a landmark legal settlement over unsafe conditions. But despite the team’s earning nearly $20 million during that time, as Gothamist previously found, detainee violence and officers’ use of force -- the primary drivers behind the federal intervention -- have only gotten worse.

The most recent report renews calls for a federal takeover of city jails. Doing so would wrest control of the facilities from the city and give power to a judge-appointed receiver. According to the special report, Molina tried to convince the monitor not to issue the report because it would “fuel the flames of those who believe that we cannot govern ourselves.”

Public defenders from the Legal Aid Society representing those in the class-action lawsuit that led to the monitorship filed a letter to the court in response to the special report demanding that the department provide details about each of the five incidents, an explanation of the city’s failure to document what they happened, and a list of any corrective actions taken in response.

“The commissioner’s apparent view that the Monitor’s concerns are not significant makes clear why the authority to implement reforms should be taken out of the city’s hands and placed with an actor that appreciates the gravity of the situation and will make appropriate decisions,” the Legal Aid attorneys wrote to U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain.

So far, Damain Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York -- which is a party to the case that led to the monitorship -- has not expressed support for such a takeover.