More Suicides In NYC Jails During 2021 Than Last 5 Years: Feds

NEW YORK CITY — Suicides, stabbings and use of force incidents by guards remain staggeringly high in New York City's jails, according to a damning update by federal monitors.

Five inmates took their own lives in 2021 — more than the last five years combined, the update issued Thursday by federal Monitor Steve Martin found.

Martin's team remains "gravely concern" about dangerous conditions in the city's jails, despite recent steps by city and state officials and the Department of Corrections to address an ongoing humanitarian crisis at Rikers Island, they wrote.

"While the Department has taken a few positive actions related to the Monitoring Team’s concerns in the past two weeks, given the depth and dimension of the problems, these actions have not materially abated the high risk of harm prevalent in the daily operations of the New York DOC to both incarcerated persons and staff," the update states. "The Monitoring Team remains concerned

about whether Department leadership possess the level of competency to safely manage the jails."

Conditions at Rikers Island deteriorated below their already-infamous levels that prompted the appointment of federal monitors in 2014.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has spent weeks facing accusations his administration's neglect spawned the crisis, while he has pinned blame on the coronavirus pandemic, the corrections officer union and historic problems at the jail.

The federal monitors' update follows weeks of desperate actions, including mass releases or transfers of inmates, to alleviate conditions at Rikers.

But the monitors found conditions across the city's jail system remain grave, in large part because of an "insular workforce" with "very limited exposure to best practices" and accountability.

There were 728 use of force incidents in September, with 183 in intake areas, the update states. Fifty-one stabbings or slashing incidents unfolded that month.

Attorneys with the Legal Aid Society, who have raised alarms about problems at Rikers and city jails for years, said the report makes clear the Department of Correction's "deep-seated ineptitude."

"The high level of uses of force, dangerous incidents, and ongoing collapse in basic jail functions, are as gravely alarming as ever," the Legal Aid attorneys said in a statement. "Combined with the woefully insufficient measures the City has recently adopted, they show that the City is simply unwilling or unable to make the systemic changes to hold the staff and leadership accountable for humane and constitutional treatment of our clients."