Reuven Blau, Author at THE CITY - NYC News

Gov. Kathy Hochul walks out of Marcy Correctional Facility with barbed wire behind her. She walks with a man in a grey suit on the right and a woman in a beige suit on the left.

Prisons

Hochul Activates the National Guard as Prison Strike Escalates

Feb. 19, 2025, 5:44 p.m.Feb. 20, 2025, 12:07 p.m.

Striking correction officers want limits lifted on use of solitary confinement and hiring of additional staff.

Governor Hochul wears a dark navy suit and holds a black folder. A man is on her right in a grey suit and her left a woman in a dark green jacket. The red brick prison entrance reads Marcy Correctional Facility behind them.

Labor

Wildcat Strike at 25 State Prisons Leads Hochul to Ready National Guard

Feb. 18, 2025, 5:50 p.m.Feb. 19, 2025, 10:59 a.m.

State correction officers are upset over lack of staff and proposed reforms that would make it harder to discipline detainees.

Then-Conviction Review Unit head Charles Linehan speaks in court as Sheldon Thomas is exonerated.

Courts

Brooklyn DA’s Conviction Review Chief Heading to Private Practice

Feb. 10, 2025, 5:00 a.m.Feb. 12, 2025, 4:51 p.m.

Charles Linehan is teaming up with Karen Newirth, a onetime defense attorney, to launch a firm focused on wrongful conviction cases.

Immigration officers arrested people in The Bronx during an early-morning raid.

Incarceration

One Hundred NYC Immigrants Arrested in Week One of Trump ICE Raids

Feb. 5, 2025, 6:40 p.m.Feb. 6, 2025, 9:05 a.m.

Little is known about where many of those arrested are being held, and immigration lawyers tell THE CITY they have had difficulty locating and ing those detained.

Barbed-wire fences surrounded a jail complex on Rivers Island.

Mental Health

Scores of People Deemed Unfit to Stand Trial Are Stuck on Rikers Island

Feb. 3, 2025, 5:05 a.m.Feb. 3, 2025, 2:26 p.m.

State psych wards for seriously mentally ill people are so full that growing numbers are held in city jails instead.

Department of Correction general counsel James Conroy speaks at a City Hall hearing about commissary prices.

Impact

Rikers’ Controversial Commissary Deal Will Be Opened to All Bidders Following Reports of High Prices, Poor Service

Jan. 30, 2025, 4:44 p.m.March 17, 2025, 2:48 p.m.

The move comes after THE CITY revealed that the company hand-picked to run food services overcharged detainees.

The Manhattan skyline loomed over a jail complex on Rikers Island.

Courts

Rikers Island Takeover Plan Due Friday But Two Sides Are at Odds Over ‘Receiver’ Details

Jan. 23, 2025, 11:57 a.m.Jan. 23, 2025, 11:57 a.m.

City officials and public defenders have not been able to reach an agreement nearly four months after a federal judge ordered them to figure out receivership of the jails system.

Incarceration

Former Prisoners Say Deadly Robert Brooks Beating Is Sadly Routine

Jan. 3, 2025, 4:47 p.m.Jan. 3, 2025, 4:47 p.m.

Those that have been in the state pen and their lawyers say “what is most unusual about the beatdown of Mr. Brooks is that it was captured on video.”

Criminal Justice

Model Prisoner Seeks Holiday Mercy from Gov. Hochul

Dec. 24, 2024, 12:21 p.m.Dec. 24, 2024, 1:27 p.m.

Tayden Townsley has served nearly three decades for a murder he committed when he was 19. He’s not eligible for parole until 2037.

Phrases documenting prison doctors malpractice investigations were highlighted in an illustration against a barbed-wire fence.

Criminal Justice

Doctors Sanctioned for Glaring Medical Mistakes Find a Place to Practice in NY State Prisons

Dec. 23, 2024, 5:01 a.m.Dec. 23, 2024, 9:39 a.m.

They’ve been judged guilty of medical misconduct, negligence, incompetence and even felonies. An investigation by THE CITY reveals that 10 such doctors found work treating incarcerated patients.

Reuven Blau

Hochul Activates the National Guard as Prison Strike Escalates

Wildcat Strike at 25 State Prisons Leads Hochul to Ready National Guard

Brooklyn DA’s Conviction Review Chief Heading to Private Practice

One Hundred NYC Immigrants Arrested in Week One of Trump ICE Raids

Scores of People Deemed Unfit to Stand Trial Are Stuck on Rikers Island

Rikers’ Controversial Commissary Deal Will Be Opened to All Bidders Following Reports of High Prices, Poor Service

Rikers Island Takeover Plan Due Friday But Two Sides Are at Odds Over ‘Receiver’ Details

Former Prisoners Say Deadly Robert Brooks Beating Is Sadly Routine

Model Prisoner Seeks Holiday Mercy from Gov. Hochul

Doctors Sanctioned for Glaring Medical Mistakes Find a Place to Practice in NY State Prisons

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