New York’s Rikers Island Has A Drug Problem That’s Being Aided And Abetted By Jail Staff

from the maybe-the-inmates-should-run-the-asylum? dept

Rikers Island doesn’t just house the convicted. It also houses those merely accused of crimes who are awaiting trial. The difference between the two doesn’t matter much to those staffing Rikers. If you’re there, you’re no longer a human being.

For years, the jail has been mismanaged, which is a really kind word for a complete abdication of responsibility. In 2014, the DOJ released a report detailing the massive amount of brutality inflicted on detained and incarcerated minors by Rikers Island staff. This is from the report:

DOC staff routinely utilize force not as a last resort, but instead as a means to control the adolescent population and punish disorderly or disrespectful behavior…

What the DOJ managed to observe is likely a severe undercount of violence perpetrated against incarcerated adolescents. As the report notes, jailers prepare their own incident reports, recordings of violent incidents often go missing, and most of the alleged violence usually happens in areas where cameras aren’t present, ensuring the jailer’s report is the only record of the altercation.

Less than a month later, it was revealed Rikers Island officials had buried previous reports of violence and jailer misconduct. A dozen city investigators soon learned the truth: the warden and deputy warden had “abdicated all responsibility” to deliver accurate statistics about inmate-on-inmate and jailer-on-inmate violence. They had also “failed to supervise staff” and “establish internal controls” to ensure accurate reporting. That all dovetailed into this damning statement:

[N]o one was ultimately disciplined over the problematic violence statistics…

None of this is anomalous. These are just data points on the Rikers Island continuum — the ongoing malfeasance practiced by those charged with ensuring the safety of convicts and those awaiting trial. The rot is so deep the only way to distinguish the jailed from the jailers is the distinctive cargo pants worn by the latter.

Eight years ago, the New York City Department of Investigation conducted an extensive undercover operation to determine how drugs and weapons were getting onto Rikers Island, where chaos and crime were explosive. Posing as a correction officer on six different occasions, an investigator successfully made it through check points with vodka contained in a water bottle he held in his hand, a razor blade, 250 glassine envelopes of heroin, 24 packaged strips of Suboxone (used to treat opioid addiction) and a half pound of marijuana. The drugs, valued at about $22,000, were concealed in the pockets of cargo pants that were, however counterintuitively, part of the guard uniform.

That investigation prompted the arrest of 27 corrections employees for drug smuggling. That purge wrapped up five years ago. The problem still isn’t solved. Following a scathing death-in-custody report released late last month by the New York Department of Corrections, more details are coming to light.

The report [PDF] shows just how little effort is made by jail staffers to prevent drug abuse, suicide, and medical emergencies. It also shows their failure to respond with any sense of urgency to these situations. Policies requiring periodic cell checks that involved not only looking at the incarcerated person but ensuring they were still alive and breathing were ignored. This indifference led to situations like these:

OCME investigators noted a visible “foam cone” and bleeding from Mr. Sullivan’s nostrils, which is typical in suspected overdoses, as well as rigor mortis, which sets in faster in cases of suspected overdose. An empty clear plastic bag was found in the cell assigned to Mr. Sullivan. All occupied operable cells and common areas were searched following Mr. Sullivan’s death, but no contraband was recovered. People in custody speculated Mr. Sullivan died from an accidental overdose because he was reportedly known to hoard pills. The last search conducted in Mr. Sullivan’s housing area prior to his death was on May 20, 2022, although Mr. Sullivan was not yet housed there on that date.

[…]

CHS medical records show that Mr. Carrasquillo missed 207 medical visits from September 29, 2019, through June 16, 2022. DOC did not produce Mr. Carrasquillo for 193 of these visits. […]

Review of surveillance footage shows that on July 10, at around 2:23 am, a person in custody slid an item that appeared to be lit and attached to a string underneath Mr. Muhammad’s cell door. At the time, all people in custody were supposed to be locked in their cells. DOC uniformed staff failed to tour every 30 minutes overnight. Board staff noted only six completed tours between 12:51 am and 5:47 am, during which the “B” post officer failed to check each individual cell.

[…]

Correction officers failed to conduct tours every 15 minutes that evening, as mandated in mental observation units. However, the “B” post officer documented active supervision tours of the area in logbook entries every 30 minutes between 5:00 pm and 10:00 pm. These tours did not take place.

Officers also failed to intervene when witnessing individuals smoking in the unit. Throughout the next hours, Mr. Lopez sniffed substances he poured into his hands, and smoked both alone and with other people in custody, all while officers were either at the front of the unit or walking past. Overnight, correction officers neglected to tour every 15 minutes to check that all individuals in their care were alive and breathing. DOC records reflect that at one point, the “B” post officer seemed to be asleep.

Neglect, carelessness, laziness, disinterest… all of this helped Rikers Island produce 18 in-custody deaths between January and November 2022.

Adding to the problem? Corrections officers smuggling in contraband for inmates.

A packet of drugs in a McDonald’s salad. Vacuum-sealed marijuana in a lunch box. Hennessy cognac in AriZona Iced Tea bottles, and Ciroc coconut-flavored vodka in Poland Spring water bottles.

These are all examples of contraband smuggled into New York City jails in recent years — not by detainees or their visitors but by correction officers.

Every so often, a corrections officer will be rung up on criminal drug smuggling charges. But that’s all external. The jail is a safe place for people who can’t be trusted to run a jail.

The Department of Investigation receives more than 200 allegations a year of officers bringing in contraband, according to sources familiar with the probes. The agency is investigating about 50 of those complaints at any given time.

But only a small fraction result in criminal cases or disciplinary action.

There’s no deterrent. Investigations are often shelved indefinitely. Despite contraband seizures actually increasing during COVID lockdowns when outside visitors were prohibited from meeting with inmates, no additional scrutiny was directed at the obvious source of this increase: corrections officers. They’re still treated as above suspicion, even after years of demonstrating they aren’t.

Like any other longstanding law enforcement problem, addressing it requires a form of will and dedication not often observed in elected officials. When confronted by powerful law enforcement unions and the public’s indifference to the rights and well-being of inmates (including those who are simply accused of criminal activity), reform efforts tend to be abandoned in favor of things that are easier and more popular. Meanwhile, inmates will continue to kill each other and themselves, all while being assisted by corrections officers who don’t care about the people they watch over and seem more than happy to help them end their lives.

Filed Under: rikers island