Federal Monitor Says Violence Persists at Rikers

Violence at Rikers Island is getting worse, according to a new report from the federal monitor overseeing reforms at the jails.

Steve Martin, an expert on jails from Texas, was appointed to oversee city jails three years ago as part of a consent decree. According to his latest report, the use of force by correction officers reached its highest level since monitoring went into effect three years ago, and this upward trend is happening while the jail population is going down, he said.

Martin described Rikers as deeply dysfunctional with a violent culture that has been entrenched for decades. In jails like this, he said, things often get worse before they get better.

The Department of Correction said progress is happening at three out of nine jails on Rikers Island, where use of force has decreased.

"We’re replicating best practices across all of our facilities and won’t be satisfied until we see success across the board," Commissioner Cynthia Brann said in a statement.

Each use of force incident must be investigated, and the monitor's report said the increase is overwhelming investigators who must determine whether misconduct has occurred. In hundreds of instances, they are missing the deadline for holding officers accountable.

Investigators on Rikers Island have 18 months to complete cases, according to a civil service law. After that, the statute of limitations runs out and staff can't be disciplined unless what happened constitutes a crime. At the end of last year there were 1,500 cases pending beyond the statute of limitations.

The city's Department of Correction said, going forward, cases approaching the statute of limitations will be identified and prioritized. A new structure for how new incidents are handled is also supposed to help speed up the process.