Councilwoman Liz Crowley (second from l.) is one of the leading members behind the legislative body’s Rikers Transparency Bill passed earlier this week. Photo courtesy Councilwoman Crowley
With corruption and violence at alarming levels, and the bad old days back on the horizon, perhaps it is unsurprising to learn that personal injury claims at some facilities on Rikers Island have increased significantly over the last five years, according to an audit report published last week by city Comptroller Scott Stringer.
Claims are filed by inmates or employees of city correction institutions or facilities who were allegedly injured by the actions of city employees or inmates.
For example, claims activity at Rikers Island’s Anna M. Kross Center, which also houses a methadone detox unit and the city Department of Correction’s Mental Health Center, increased by 33 percent from 2013, and leaped 174 percent since 2009. The Central Punitive Segregation Unit in the Otis Bantum Correctional Center has seen a 174 percent increase in claims between fiscal year 2009 and 2014.
Overall, more than 2,200 personal injury correctional facility claims were filed against DOC in fiscal year 2014, an increase of 37 percent over 2013, and a 114 percent since 2009. According to Stringer, given the increase in claims filed between 2011 and 2014, it is likely that costs to the city—whether from claims settlements, litigation costs or judgments—will rise accordingly in the coming years.
“The culture of violence detailed in recent reports on Rikers Island has made it clear that we are potentially facing a humanitarian crisis in our city’s largest jail,” Stringer said. “My ClaimStat Alert on the Department of Correction shows a startling rise in claims across many of our city’s jails over the past five years. Reducing violence in our jails is critically important, not only for inmates and Correction employees, but for taxpayers who are on the hook for millions of dollars in settlements and judgments every year.”
One possible explanation for the trend upward on Rikers Island, Stringer posited, comes from a study linking the rising use of solitary confinement to the increase in violence, which in turn leads to more claims activity. In an effort to address how officials use solitary confinement, the City Council last week unanimously passed a bill requiring the DOC commissioner, in coordination with the commissioner of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, to post a quarterly report on its website regarding punitive segregation statistics for city jails, including: the total number of inmates housed in punitive segregation; their age, race, and gender; length of stay; whether they’ve been injured, attempted or committed suicide while segregated; whether they were sexually or physically assaulted; whether they were subject to use of force; whether they received certain services such as recreation and showers, medical attention and phone calls as well as a number of other indicators.
The council also passed a resolution which calls on the DOC to end the practice of placing individuals returning to city jails into solitary confinement to complete time owed.
“The problems on Rikers Island have been decades in the making, but we now have the right climate and leadership to begin serious discussions about reform and the threshold of acceptable use of force in our city jails,” said Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley (D-Glendale), chairwoman of the Committee on Fire and Criminal Justice.
By Michael Cusenza
