In a prior article dated Nov. 28 and titled Gangs Proliferate in NYC Prisons Where They Have Become the de Facto Authority, I explained how jail gangs are responsible for the epidemic of crime and violence on Rikers Island and are virtually in control of every aspect of jail life.
On Dec. 8, Lynelle Maginley-Liddie was appointed correction commissioner replacing Louis Molina. On the same day the Gothamist reported that Maginley-Liddie stated, “My focus will be restoration and investment in a safe, secure, humane and supportive environment for each person entrusted in our care.”
Unfortunately, it is not the future of the incarcerated that her remarks allude to. The lip service that she is paying to the obligatory rhetoric may appease the advocacy groups and placate the federal monitor Steve Martin, who oversees jail conditions on Rikers, but it does little to stop the overwhelming detainee violence.
Ask the 800 detainees that were slashed and stabbed in the last two years under former commissioner Luis Molina’s leadership if the jails are “safe”? Ask the 98,000 detainees that were cited for fighting and assaulting each other from 2015-2023 under Martin’s watch if the jails are “secure, humane and supportive…”?
Rikers Island is scourged by detainee gangs who exert their dominance over others in custody like a barbaric occupying army. The gangs are organized and in control of virtually every housing area and grow stronger every day, victimizing anyone in their path.
However, instead of dismantling the detainee gangs Molina and Martin dismantled the uniformed force. This is the very opposite of safety and security. They replaced uniformed chiefs and wardens with civilians resulting in the most detainee violence since 1996. Martin’s reports to federal judge Laura Taylor-Swain, who oversees the Nunez consent decrees, have also called for the the removal of deputy wardens, assistant deputy wardens and captains replacing them with civilians from outside the agency.
Regaining control of the jails would significantly reduce crime and violence and create a more “safe, secure, humane and supportive environment for each person entrusted in our care”.
NYC has an obligation and the legal authority to keep detainees safe.
Will DOC Commissioner Maginley-Liddee dismantle the detainee gangs and close Pandora’s box or will she continue dismantling the uniformed force and follow Molina and Martin over the proverbial cliff?
