New York City Comptroller Brad Lander released his office’s monthly updated data to the Department of Corrections (DOC) Dashboard which monitors persistent issues and mistreatment in NYC jails.
This particular dashboard aims to monitor common issues at city jails which primarily include chronic staff absenteeism as well as incidents of death among incarcerated people and jail staff.
Additionally, this report tracks the Rikers Island jail center’s population, which rose approximately 2% in September of this year.
“Just this past weekend, Erick Tavira died in a mental health observation unit in a jail on Rikers Island,” said Comptroller Brad Lander. “He was the 17th person to die just this year, and the 33rd since January 2021. Decades of mismanagement and impunity have reached a crisis point on the island that we cannot turn away from. We cannot continue to lock growing numbers of our neighbors away out of sight to await trial in crumbling facilities home to a culture of impunity and brutality.”
Data from the jail facility indicates that there has been an increase of 137 incarcerated people remanded to Rikers Island in September of this year. In addition, the September data shows that very little if any improvement on the facilities key metrics.
According to the Comptroller, as of Oct. 2, the jail population remained at 5,849 — 2% higher than last month and up 5% over October 2021. The number of staff out sick or absent remains at 12%, unchanged over the last three months and the average number of people in custody diagnosed with serious mental illness increased again to 1,033, still approximately 18% of the population.
“Just this past weekend, Erick Tavira died in a mental health observation unit in a jail on Rikers Island,” said Comptroller Brad Lander on Wednesday. “He was the 17th person to die just this year, and the 33rd since January 2021. Decades of mismanagement and impunity have reached a crisis point on the island that we cannot turn away from. We cannot continue to lock growing numbers of our neighbors away out of sight to await trial in crumbling facilities home to a culture of impunity and brutality.”
Following the Comptroller’s report and statement, a spokesperson from the Department of Corrections responded.
“The department always supports transparency and accountability,” The spokesperson told amNew York on Wednesday. “Under this administration, we continue to work tirelessly to make improvements after decades of neglect and dysfunction in our jails. While we have made progress over the last ten months, we know there is a lot more work to do. Improving our jail system will require more than just data reports, it will take correctional and operational expertise and the support from our dedicated staff to make impactful changes.”
Last updated 10/27/2022 4:14 p.m.
