Several Rikers Island detainees say that they haven’t gotten basic items like mattresses, bed sheets and warm clothing like sweatshirts and thermal underwear as required when they first arrive, according to the jails oversight board. 

The city’s Board of Correction received 59 complaints about “bedding” problems from Nov. 1 to Dec. 26, 2023, said board executive director Jasmine Georges-Yilla during the agency’s monthly meeting in Lower Manhattan on Wednesday. 

Advocates for people behind bars said that the lack of clean linen and proper clothing was just one more example of the Department of Correction’s inability to follow basic rules and offer rudimentary care. 

“These deprivations are not experienced in a vacuum, but instead as part of a whole set of deprivations,” testified Michael Klinger, a jail services attorney with Brooklyn Defender Services. 

One client of his showered with his clothes on to clean them because he couldn’t get laundry done, he added.

Klinger said his clients also lack access to general hygiene items like soap and toothbrushes, as well as to recreation, religious services, visits, and healthy and satisfying meals. 

Alison Pace, the DOC’s associate commissioner of facility operations, defended how the department issues laundry, bedding and clothing.

“We understand that we do have some deficiencies,” she said. “But I can tell you that we are also a system committed to change, committed to identify any shortcomings that we have, and address them.”

She added that “follow through is absolutely everything” and that includes working with staff to make sure they respond to complaints. 

In December, the department received 27 complaints from detainees about the clothing and linen, she said, noting that represented less than 1% of the entire approximately 6,000 jail population. 

Nevertheless, Pace said the department planned to “audit” how linen and laundry is distributed and cleaned. Currently, the exchange of each piece of clothing is itemized in the department’s old fashioned logbooks. In 2019, the city’s Department of Investigation has urged the department to digitize its record system. 

Future on the Line

The Board of Correction oversight hearing comes as a federal judge is in the midst of deciding whether the department should be taken over by a third party known as a receiver. 

Laura Taylor Swain, the chief judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, has given the Mayor Eric Adams’ istration until March to make its case to retain control. 

ers of the receivership takeover already filed their motions with Swain last summer and fall, arguing multiple commissioners and mayors have failed to reform the troubled department for decades. They include the Legal Aid Society, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office, and multiple elected officials. 

Soaking Wet Clothes

As for the bedding and linens, when people first come into a housing unit they are legally entitled to two sheets, one pillow case, one mattress, one mattress cover, and sufficient blankets. 

The sheets and pillowcases must be cleaned at least once a week, blankets once every three months, and mattresses every six months, according to the board’s “Minimum Standards” regulations. 

But that doesn’t always happen, according to the multiple grievances. 

“Some complain about wearing the same clothing for extended periods leading to hygiene concerns,” she said. “Access to basic necessities, several individuals are requesting basic items such as socks, underwear and hygiene supplies.”

Some detainees also complained about extreme cold and a lack of warm clothing and blankets, the board’s executive director said. 

Upon entering custody, each detainee also gets three uniforms, three undergarments, and three pairs of socks. When they get dirty they must then turnover their clothes for laundry or can do their own washing in the facility. 

But the laundry — and access to it — has long been an issue for people locked up, according to multiple jail insiders. 

“Whether they wash in a basin or in the shower, it is both difficult and time-consuming to air dry their clothes,” testified Klinger, the public defender.  

They lay their wet clothing on their beds to dry but that makes their mattress wet and it takes time so they often miss recreation periods and meals, he added. 

“Sometimes, in order to have access to recreation or a meal, people choose to wear their soaking wet clothes,” he said.

The hearing began with recorded calls from incarcerated people detailing poor conditions and various problems like a broken tablet screen. 

“Living conditions are horrible,” said James Lumpkin who is currently housed in the Otis C. Bantam Center. “We don’t even have toothbrushes. We run out of blankets.” 

“Somedays, weeks, we don’t even get laundry,” he added. “It’s just inhumane.”