Criminal Justice
Policy
Judge rejects state prison system’s attempt to dismiss lawsuit over solitary confinement
The class action lawsuit was filed by a group of people incarcerated in state prisons, including one man who was sent to solitary confinement for 120 days after throwing sugar packets and urinating on the floor.
Politics
Top DOC lawyer Paul Shechtman resigns
Shechtman’s decision to quietly step down last week suggests DOC Commissioner Louis Molina’s legal arguments may not even pass the smell test with his own lawyers.
Politics
Divisions within oversight agency may imperil lawsuit against DOC
The mayor’s new appointees could shift the balance of power on the Board of Correction, leading the watchdog agency to abandon its lawsuit against DOC.
Policy
Dying man’s cries for help at Rikers Island went unheeded, fellow detainees say
Two people in the same unit recalled how jail guards failed to respond to Donny Ubiera’s fight for his life.
Policy
After PR stunts, damning reports and a new lawsuit, judge sets stage for potential federal takeover of Rikers next year
Federal judge Laura Taylor Swain is losing patience with the city Department of Correction, which has now come under fire from the court-appointed federal monitor, Legal Aid Society, federal prosecutors, city comptroller and Board of Correction.
Opinion
Opinion: Judicial independence or intimidation?
The same judicial organizations who condemned academics for publishing a paper about judges setting excessive bail were silent when a judge was reassigned for declining to set bail.
Opinion
Opinion: Closing Rikers is the joke of the decade
There’s no way Rikers will be replaced by four borough-based jails by 2027. So let’s reform Rikers instead.
Opinion
Opinion: Eric Adams has failed. It’s time for a federal receiver to take over at Rikers
Receivership is the only way to improve conditions and save lives at the troubled jail complex
Criminal Justice
What needs to change at Rikers? Everything.
We asked more than a dozen criminal justice experts. They urged staying the course on borough-based jails – and many called for a federal takeover of Rikers in the meantime.
Policy
More people have died in New York City jails than previously known
Since 2014, at least 120 people held in city jails have died while in custody or shortly after being released on medical grounds – but some of those deaths have gone unreported.
Policy
Here's how parents are really treated on Rikers
Unable to exercise their parental rights, incarcerated fathers and mothers can often feel isolated from their children.
Heard Around Town
Poll: New Yorkers support Wrongful Convictions Act
The vast majority of people polled last month supported legislation that would make it easier to overturn wrongful convictions.
Rikers Island
Elected officials sound the alarm on proposed city budget cuts to Rikers
Amid proposed cuts to jail-based programming, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams says the Eric Adams administration is at a crossroads
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NYPD
Under Adams and Sewell, advocates allege rollback in police accountability
The city’s police watchdog said that Sewell has disagreed with or declined to pursue their recommended discipline for substantiated complaints of misconduct in most cases.
2023 session wrap-up
With new bill, Clean Slate looks closer than ever to becoming law
State leaders say they’ve reached a three-way deal on sealing people’s criminal records after a multi-year period.
Criminal Justice
Rap Music on Trial bill would stop prosecutors from citing irrelevant lyrics in court
The bill addresses the increasingly common practice of prosecutors using defendants’ rap songs to harm their character.
Criminal Justice
This year’s Clean Slate debate is a familiar one
New York lawmakers have long argued over whose records should be sealed, from whom they should be kept and how long after they served prison time.
Opinion
Opinion: Cuts to programming that helps people incarcerated at Rikers Island are shortsighted
The Department of Correction wants to eliminate $17 million in jail-based programs
Opinion
Opinion: ‘Felony arrest’ data shouldn’t determine criminal justice policy
More than 80% of people arrested on felony charges have their cases dismissed.
Opinion
