Rikers Monitor is expected to target the city jail chief at hearing

A federal observer overseeing the prison complex at Rikers Island is expected to issue a sharp reprimand in court Tuesday against New York City prison chief Louis A. Molina for violent or negligent treatment of inmates by prison officials.

In three reports filed in Federal District Court in recent weeks, the Observer, Steve J. Martin, Mr. Molina and his Corrections Department staff have been accused of withholding information and evading responsibility for recent events at Rikers. The reports show a staggering lack of confidence in the agency.

For example, Mr Martin wrote last week that he didn’t necessarily believe the ministry when it said there had been just three deaths in custody this year.

“Given recent concerns about the ministry’s lack of transparency and the accuracy of the data provided, it is possible that this number could be higher,” he wrote.

When Mr. Molina took office in January 2022, he helped bring back hundreds of corrections officers who had failed to show up for work every day for the past year.

But the violence and chaos on Rikers Island continues, and this year Mr. Molina and New York City Mayor Eric Adams have limited public information about conditions inside. They have stopped informing news outlets when deaths occur and have made it difficult for a city watchdog to access video and other information from Rikers Island.

Tuesday’s hearing in federal court could herald more dramatic action. In April 2022, the US attorney in Manhattan raised the prospect of a federal takeover of Rikers Island, through an official known as a trustee. At least 38 people have died there in the past three years. That possibility has informed much of Mr. Molina’s tenure, and he has vowed to take control of the complex.

If Mr. Martin has lost confidence in Mr. Molina, it could mean a shift in the attitude of the federal judge overseeing his work. Ultimately, it would be up to that judge, Laura T. Swain, to appoint a trustee and strip New York City of its authority.

There is no sign that Mr. Martin will file for suspension of payments on Tuesday. Judge Swain has given no indication that she will appoint an outside authority. Mr Martin’s latest report, submitted on Monday, suggests his goal is more modest: getting timely, accurate information about deaths and other serious incidents on Rikers Island.

Rikers has weathered decades of crisis. In 2017, then-mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the complex would close within ten years and be replaced by four smaller prisons. The plan hinged on reducing the number of inmates in New York City: The new prison facilities, one in each ward except Staten Island, would have about 3,300 beds.

But shortly after the pandemic broke out in March 2020, violent crime spiked in New York City. A delay in court hearings contributed to a surge in population at Rikers. At the same time, hundreds of corrections officers, who had been hit hard by the virus, stopped coming to work. By the summer of 2021, the complex was spiraling out of control.

Now the island’s population has surged past 6,000 and Mayor Adams has questioned the city’s ability to close the complex before the deadline.

Mr. Martin said in the three recent reports that the city’s opposition prevented him from overseeing Rikers. The first report, released late last month, focused on five “serious and disturbing” cases where detainees were injured, injured or became ill. Mr Martin said he – and by proxy Judge Swain – was unaware of the events until reporters asked.

In response, Mr. Molina and Mayor Eric Adams provided video to amNewYork Metro they claimed Mr. Martin’s reports were flawed. The mayor told the outlet that Mr Martin’s report on the episodes – which included the violent restraint of a person in custody who was said to be over 80 and the failure of prison staff to help an inmate who was heavily was beaten by other inmates – had “caused a degree of commotion” that was unfair to corrections officers and the inmates and had “sent the wrong message”.

On Monday, Mr Martin renewed his criticism and offered more information on two of the specific episodes, including one in May in which a man was paralyzed from the neck down after correctional staff tackled him to the ground.

Mr Molina’s response, the Observer wrote, suggested “an attempt to excuse or evade responsibility for a very serious event”.

Next month Mr. Martin to file a report that will assess whether the city has been successful in significantly reducing the risk to those trapped and working on Rikers Island, with a hearing in August for Judge Swain.