Politics
JUST IN: Federal Government Takes Control Of Notorious New York Prison
A federal judge on Tuesday seized control of New York City’s notorious jail complex on Rikers Island, which will now be run by an official who reports directly to the court.
In a 77-page ruling, Judge Laura Taylor Swain concluded that the conduct of the city over the last nine years “leaves no doubt that continued insistence on compliance with the court’s orders by persons answerable principally to political authorities would lead only to confrontation and delay.”
She also wrote “that the current management structure and staffing are insufficient to turn the tide within a reasonable period; that defendants have consistently fallen short of the requisite compliance with court orders for years, at times under circumstances that suggest bad faith; and that enormous resources — that the city devotes to a system that is at the same time overstaffed and underserved — are not being deployed effectively,” according to a transcript obtained by ABC News.
Judge Swain will now appoint a manager, who will appoint directly to her. The manager will work with the city’s jails commissioner and will be “empowered to take all actions necessary” to remedy the issues laid out in the ruling.
“While the necessary changes will take some time, the court expects to see continual progress toward these goals,” the judge wrote.
Critics have long called for reform on Rikers Island, citing well documented violent and inhumane conditions inside the facility for years.
While addressing the ruling in a news conference on Tuesday, New York Mayor Eric Adams stated that Rikers’ problems were “decades in the making.” The mayor further claimed that the ruling mandating the prison’s closure by 2027 will further hinder his administration’s ability to address the concerns.
“It stated you can’t make any capital improvements on Rikers Island,” Adams said. “We can’t spend money on Rikers Island to improve the conditions.”
Rikers Island
Mayoral candidate Scott Stringer, who previously served as the city’s comptroller, praised the judge’s ruling as “long-overdue but necessary” in a statement released on Tuesday.
“For decades, Rikers has represented a systemic failure of multiple mayoral administrations — plagued by violence, neglect, and dangerous and inhumane conditions,” he said. “While I applaud this decision, I do not view it as a victory; instead, it is a scathing indictment of our city’s failed leadership.”
The ruling comes a little over a week after President Donald Trump instructed the federal government to revitalize and reopen the infamous Alcatraz prison in the San Francisco Bay.
“No longer will we tolerate these Serial Offenders who spread filth, bloodshed, and mayhem on our streets. That is why, today, I am directing the Bureau of Prisons, together with the Department of Justice, FBI, and Homeland Security, to reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt ALCATRAZ, to house America’s most ruthless and violent Offenders,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post last Sunday.
“We will no longer be held hostage to criminals, thugs, and Judges that are afraid to do their job and allow us to remove criminals, who came into our Country illegally. The reopening of ALCATRAZ will serve as a symbol of Law, Order, and JUSTICE. We will, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
