New York City found in contempt over conditions in city jails

NEW YORK —  A federal judge found New York City in contempt on Wednesday over conditions in its city jails, saying conditions have only worsened in the nine years since the city settled accusations of abuse and violence.

Judge Laura Taylor Swain in Manhattan issued a written ruling finding the city in contempt over 18 separate contempt claims.

The ruling stemmed from litigation that began in 2012 with accusations by the Legal Aid Society and others that the city’s Department of Correction had engaged in a pattern of excessive and unnecessary force in city jails.

Despite a settlement and consent decree agreed to in October 2015, the judge says conditions have worsened over the last decade.

“The use of force rate and other rates of violence, self-harm, and deaths in custody are demonstrably worse than when the Consent Judgment went into effect,” she wrote.

“As the record in this case demonstrates, the current rates of use of force, stabbings and slashings, fights, assaults on staff, and in-custody deaths remain extraordinarily high, and there has been no substantial reduction in the risk of harm currently facing those who live and work in the Rikers Island jails,” Swain added.

She ordered all parties to agree on remedies over the next several weeks.

The Department of Correction and the Legal Aid Society did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A year ago, advocates for inmates asked the judge to hold the city in contempt and place it under receivership.

They said correction officers still use head strikes on inmates and prohibited techniques such as chokeholds, body-slamming and inflicting force on people in restraints.

The advocates also argued that the agency’s leadership has consistently ignored the recommendations of a monitor and have failed to take steps to curb abuses.

In September, Swain directed city officials to begin developing a plan for a possible federal takeover of Rikers Island.