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Board of Correction

Posted inJails

City Lawmakers Drag Feet on Solitary Confinement Ban After Campaign Promises

March 16, 2022, 6:33 p.m.March 16, 2022, 6:35 p.m.
The City Council has still not introduced any measure to end solitary confinement in city jails despite a majority of publicly opposing the practice. The public advocate’s office meanwhile has taken up the mantle and says a bill will be introduced in weeks.
Posted inJails

Chaotic Inmate-Attack Rikers Training Drill Sends Nonprofit Staffer to ER

Jan. 13, 2022, 8:04 p.m.Jan. 13, 2022, 8:04 p.m.
A worker with the Osborne Association, which provides inmate services on the island jail, was overcome by pepper spray after a terrifying surprise training drill with a correction officer dressed up as an inmate.
Posted inSolitary Confinement

De Blasio’s Order to Delay Solitary Confinement Reforms Over Rikers Chaos Slammed

Nov. 2, 2021, 4:52 p.m.Nov. 2, 2021, 7:16 p.m.
The sister of Layleen Polanco, whose 2019 jail death galvanized the movement to end isolating inmates, expressed her “disgust” for the mayor. De Blasio’s handpicked leader of the city jail oversight board also condemned his 11th-hour executive order.
Posted inMental Health

Self-Harm Is Exploding In New York City Jails, Internal Numbers Show

Sept. 7, 2021, 12:01 a.m.Sept. 7, 2021, 9:25 p.m.
Self-harm — including suicides — at Rikers Island and other local lockups spiked last summer as COVID-19 ravaged New York, figures obtained by WNYC/Gothamist and THE CITY show. The rate’s climbed to historic levels in the months since.
Posted inJails

Rikers Detainee Endured ‘Horrible Conditions’ Before Dying in Cell, Jails Overseer Finds

Aug. 1, 2021, 9:17 p.m.Aug. 1, 2021, 9:17 p.m.
Missing blankets and sheets. No pillows. Limited food and exercise. That’s what a new father jailed on a parole violation stemming from a shoplifting arrest faced before becoming the first of three men to die at Rikers since April.
Posted inJails

De Blasio Plan to Eliminate Solitary Confinement Falls Short for Inmate Advocates

March 8, 2021, 11:09 p.m.March 17, 2021, 11:18 a.m.
“All they did was change the name, and slightly, very slightly, changed a few things,” said Melania Brown, whose sister, Layleen Polanco, died in a solitary cell at Rikers Island in 2019.
Posted inJails

How the City Failed Three Men Who Died of COVID-19 in Jail: Watchdog

March 8, 2021, 5:00 a.m.Oct. 12, 2023, 7:52 a.m.
Scathing report from the city’s jails oversight board finds the men — all with medical conditions — were packed into dormitories without masks. One tried, in vain, to protect himself with sheets and pillow cases.
Posted inSolitary Confinement

City Jailers Defy Oversight Board to Keep Young Adults in Isolation

Feb. 25, 2021, 8:00 a.m.Feb. 24, 2021, 10:28 p.m.
An “emergency” petition by the Correction Department to put youths alone in cells for up to 17 hours a day comes nearly eight months after Mayor Bill de Blasio promised to end solitary confinement for all inmates.
Posted inEducation

Students on Rikers Island Locked Out of Remote Learning Video Chat With Teachers

Dec. 16, 2020, 10:34 p.m.March 14, 2024, 2:24 p.m.
For the hundreds of young adults in city jails working toward a high-school diploma, educational and other much-sought programming has been devastated by the pandemic.
Posted inSolitary Confinement

De Blasio Promised Nearly Six Months Ago to End Solitary Confinement. So Where’s the Plan?

Dec. 6, 2020, 7:19 p.m.Dec. 6, 2020, 9:35 p.m.
The Board of Correction now says a proposal, spurred by the death of Layleen Polanco at Rikers Island, will be out this month. But the City Council could beat them to it with a law.

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