Judge Finds City in Contempt and Is ‘Inclined’ to Take Control of Rikers

A federal judge overseeing New York City’s violent jails, including Rikers Island, on Wednesday found the city in contempt for failing to stem violence and excessive force at the facilities, and said she was learning toward taking control of them.

The judge, Laura Taylor Swain, said in a 65-page opinion that the city and its Department of Correction had violated the constitutional rights of prisoners and staff members alike by exposing them to danger, and had intentionally ignored her orders.

The judge wrote that she was “inclined” to impose an outside authority, known as a receiver, which she said would be a “remedy that will make the management of the use of force and safety aspects of the Rikers Island jails ultimately answerable directly to the court.” She ordered the city and lawyers representing prisoners to devise a plan for a receivership by Jan. 14.

Judge Swain’s ruling came nearly a decade after the city’s jails fell under federal oversight in a settlement of a class-action lawsuit brought by prisoners and the Legal Aid Society. Since then, a court-appointed monitor has issued regular reports on the violence that has continued to plague the jails. In the past two years, at least 33 people have died in the jails or shortly after being released.