The Legal Aid Society – a non-profit legal organization in New York City – has recently alleged that the NYC Department of Corrections (DOC) tampered with inmate intake information, condemning the practice.
The alleged interference occurred at the intake areas at the Eric M. Taylor Center (EMTC) on the Rikers Island jail facility.
“We are deeply concerned by this revelation, which appears to show DOC employees tampering with data that is used to monitor compliance with a court order,” said Kayla Simpson, a staff attorney with the Prisoners’ Rights Project at The Legal Aid Society in a statement on Oct. 17. “This seriously diminishes the credibility of the City’s public assertions that they have solved their long-standing problem of holding people for days in these uninhabitable areas, and the public deserves answers.”
The Legal Aid Society – through a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request – was able to obtain certain documents and information that seemed to reveal that in a random sample of days in the month of June, 2022, the DOC appeared to alter or tamper with the facility’s admissions perhaps in order to demonstrate compliance with the 2021 federal court order in Nunez v. City of New York which requires DOC to limit stays in DOC’s intake to 24 hours.
Following these allegations, the Board of Corrections (BOC) – a DOC oversight agency – contacted acting EMTC Warden, raising questions about the intake process.
“Board staff are continuing to closely monitor the conditions in the Main Intake at EMTC.” said a BOC spokesperson on Oct. 17. “As part of our monitoring work, we have been reviewing the DOC’s Intake Dashboard. Over the past few days, we have documented 17 incidents where a person in custody in the EMTC intake had their “In Custody at Court” start time (the time reported on their Securing Order) changed on the DOC’s Intake Dashboard. These changes often occurred as a newly admitted person in custody approached their 24 hour clock expiration, or sometimes following the expiration. Some people in custody had their custody start time changed multiple times over the course of several hours.”
Eric M. Taylor Center has refused to provide comment on the matter to amNewYork Metro.
