Federal court seizes control of Rikers Island prison

A federal court is seizing control of Rikers Island prison in New York City by appointing a "remediation manager" to oversee the aging complex plagued by violence. 

The decision on Tuesday follows years of advocates raising concerns over conditions at the prison, where at least five inmates died this year, Newsweek reported.

U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain delivered a 77-page ruling in which she seized control of the prison. The "remediation manager" will be appointed to oversee the prison and report directly to the court, rather than New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Swain's ruling says she concluded that the last nine years "leave no doubt that continued insistence on compliance with the Court's orders by persons answerable principally to political authorities would lead only to confrontation and delay" and that the "current management structure and staffing are insufficient to turn the tide within a reasonable period."

She wrote in her decision that the "remediation manager" will be "empowered to take all actions necessary" to address concerns at Rikers.

"The Court expects that the Remediation Manager and the Commissioner of the Department of Correction will work as collaboratively as possible to achieve remediation of the Contempt Provisions and compliance with the Consent Judgment, including by building upon the progress that has been achieved since the current Commissioner took office," according to the ruling.

Swain said that the changes will "take some time," but she expects to see "continual progress toward these goals so that control of use of force and related policies and practices can be returned to the City and the DOC [Department of Correction] as quickly as possible."

In 2015, a settlement of a 2011 class action lawsuit over excessive force in the New York City Department of Correction's jail facilities allowed for federal oversight of the prison.

"If the federal judge made the determination that they want to do something else and they don't like what we're doing, it's a federal judge. We're going to follow the rules," Adams said during a news conference on Tuesday. "What I'm hoping is with this announcement that the federal judge will look at some of these laws. The laws that state we can't handcuff dangerous inmates when we transfer them."

"The Court's findings and appointment of a remediation manager are a welcomed and much needed milestone," U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement. "Rikers is not working, for its over 7,000 people in custody, the correction officers and staff who work there, or the people of New York. The Constitutional rights of people in custody are not being protected."

Legislation passed by the New York City Council in 2019 requires the closure of Rikers Island prison by 2027 and new jails to replace it.