On Eve of Court Hearing, Comptroller Lander Releases Oversight Report Detailing Abysmal NYC Jail Performance Over the Past Year

After a year of publishing monthly updates on key indicators regarding the New York City Department of Correction (DOC) and one day ahead of a court hearing that may consider placing management of New York City’s jails under the control of a federal receiver, City Comptroller Brad Lander released a report on the state of city jails, which finds little progress addressing inhumane conditions over the last year.

“Based on a year of closely watching the data on the Department of Correction, this much is clear: without dramatic changes to management, dysfunction and violence at Rikers will persist. The City of New York has proven unwilling or unable to overhaul its jail operations on its own. Without real change, the costs of injustice and mismanagement to New Yorkers, their loved ones, and our city will only grow,” said New York City Comptroller Brad Lander.

The Comptroller’s office began publishing metrics on jail conditions and operations to a public dashboard in August 2022. A review of the trends over the past year indicates that:

• While slashings, stabbings, and assaults against staff trended downwards in recent months after peaking in 2021, fights spiked significantly and incidents of excessive use of force remain alarmingly high.
• One-in-five people in custody have a serious mental illness with the number of incarcerated people with serious mental illness doubling since before the pandemic.
• People in custody missed 21% more medical appointments than in August 2022, as of the most recently available data.

• While staff sick time usage declined from a dramatic peak in 2021, on average 17% of staff are reportedly out sick or on leave on any given day.
• Monthly overtime earned per employee skyrocketed from approximately $1,500 per month before the pandemic to $4,200 as of June 2023.
• DOC has 9% fewer staff since August 2022, but the ratio of DOC uniformed staff to people in detention is nearly four times the national average.
• The jail population grew to nearly double the planned capacity of the borough-based jails, which intend to replace Rikers Island facilities, raising concerns about the City’s plans to close Rikers Island, consistent with local law.

On Thursday, a federal judge will hold a status conference and hear arguments over whether the federal government should appoint a third-party receiver to take over management of the jails. Comptroller Lander was the first citywide elected official to call for federal receivership in October 2022, and reiterated that call today.

“While we sought to increase transparency of Rikers through our dashboard over the past year, DOC leadership moved in the opposite direction, failing to report the deaths of people in custody and reducing the Board of Correction’s access to camera footage and timesheets. Current leadership made little progress on persistent issues of jail conditions, forcing me to conclude that the City of New York is unwilling or unable to address the humanitarian and safety issues at Rikers. The judge should rule to appoint a federal receiver, who could implement reforms to operations that will improve accountability and conditions in New York City’s jails and work to get the City back on the path to close Rikers Island,” Lander said.

Read the full The State of NYC Jails report here.

See the latest DOC Dashboard update here.

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