The illusion of hope for DOC

As the earth spins toward the east it gives the illusion that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. The sunrise and sunset are enthralling and captivating, yet still misleading optical illusions like the hope for safety and success in NYC’s jails under the decade long failed quixotic approach to jail management.

And while Rikers continues to spin in all directions, it can still be alluring to connect the sea and universe to its fate to create an aesthetic illusion by setting your sights on the North Star and declaring that “a rising tide lifts all boats," as did Correction Commissioner Stanley Richards.

However, although optimistic leadership is essential, it must be deeply rooted in reality to be credible, otherwise it’s only a placebo and a figment of the imagination that blurs one’s surroundings.

To assert that NYC’s jail crisis will end by decarceration, closing Rikers in five years and by giving the remediation manager seven years to fix the jail problems is delusional, deficient and simply wrong.

The jail crisis must end now. Correction officers and those incarcerated cannot wait for years of decarceration, for the borough jails to open or for the remediation manager’s deadline to arrive.

Whether there are 8,000 people held on Rikers or 3,000 people incarcerated in borough jails, common sense laws, effective policies and creative leadership that correction officers respect and which also inspires esprit de corps are essential to solve this crisis.

In March, a correction officer was slashed under her eye by a detainee.

Yet, under the guise of decarceration, if this detainee is discharged from custody to a work release program by the correction commissioner pursuant to  the authority of “Article 6-A” the community is at risk.

It’s a deceptive sleight-of-hand by correction officials to temporarily reduce jail violence yet does little to foster actual safety and security behind bars. And keeping him in custody without effective restrictive housing continues to put the incarcerated population and correction officers at risk.

Managing the jails is no longer the commissioner’s priority. It appears the priority is to shutter Rikers and reduce the incarcerated population to borough jail levels.

Detainees with a history of jail violence should not be able to continue their assaults in jail, yet this is exactly the policy that the City Council, City Hall and top correction officials support. 

When seen with Pollyanna lenses, the federal takeover and new correction administration herald utopian ideals. Remove the illusion that the lenses provide and it becomes an ominous warning that foreshadows portentous events.  

There were two in custody deaths in the last week of March. The first died on March 25 on Rikers and the cause of death is yet to be determined.

Notwithstanding the circumstances or cause of death, the mayor stated that Rikers must be closed, implying that the location of the jails on Rikers itself could be responsible for the detainee’s death. He posted on social media, “While we do not yet know the cause of death, too many have died on Rikers Island for far too long. Rikers must close, and we will pursue every avenue to do so as quickly as possible."

This rhetoric creates another vision that if Rikers were closed in custody deaths would end. Sadly, there were far too many in custody deaths in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx when the borough jails were open.

The second detainee died at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens on March 29. Should Elmhurst Hospital be closed also?

Although the causes of death in these cases are unknown, many times in custody deaths are attributed to drug overdoses. Consequently, to significantly reduce detainee deaths there should be an aggressive initiative to stop the flow of drugs to Rikers jails.

Instead, the mayor seeks to hire a “Rikers czar” with the sole responsibility of closing Rikers Island. In 2021, as the first deputy commissioner closing Rikers was a priority for Stanley Richards and I suspect still is. Yet, it appears we will soon have a fourth top correction official in addition to the federal monitor, the remediation manager and the correction commissioner intermingled in the same dysfunctional bureaucracy that has failed for over a decade.

What is the need for a Rikers czar when Stanley Richards took on that role both in 2021 and seemingly now as commissioner?

Rather, the mayor should consider appointing a czar to stop the flow of drugs into the jails, to oversee all detainee medical and mental health appointments and treatment, to insure effective suicide prevention policies are implemented, to dismantle detainee gangs and to stop detainee violence.

Mary Lynne Werlwas, the director of The Legal Aid Society’s Prisoners’ Rights Project, said “I don’t have a crystal ball, but this partnership and this administration makes for a very exciting time.”

“This is a really great opportunity – one of the best opportunities the city has had in decades to make real progress.”

Maybe she should get a crystal ball to see what the agency’s future holds. I assure you the foreseeable future doesn’t hold renowned correction leaders implementing best correctional practices obtained through years of experience and research into methods and techniques.

And because Rikers Island is sui generis appointing correctional professionals with NYC jail experience to be in charge is essential.

Building new jails on Rikers instead of in the boroughs would have been more feasible, much less expensive, more secure, less disruptive to communities and could have provided more opportunity in the boroughs for affordable housing. Instead, the contrived land grab and gentrification of Rikers Island prevailed and superseded common sense and the will of New Yorkers.

Even after a decade of chaos and dysfunction it still appears that captivating illusions are more believable than truth itself. 

Like the mirage of a pool of water in the desert seen by a thirsty nomad or the hallucination of a horizon desperately sought by a confused pilot, the quasi receiver in charge of the NYC jails and the first formerly incarcerated person now leading the correction department who ostensibly wants the closure of Rikers to be his legacy, conjure for some the deus ex machina that lures thought, entices the brain, spurs imagination and captures hope despite the truth and reality that surrounds us.