mobanmarketNEW YORK CITY — Department of Correction officials’ sudden decision to longer reveal deaths in New York City’s jails is nothing less than an active cover-up to hide dismal conditions from scrutiny, advocates raged.
A bombshell report by THE CITY late Wednesday first revealed that jail officials not only stopped notifying the public about inmate deaths, but also will no longer do so in the future.
The decision was revealed after jail officials failed to announce two recent deaths, including one man who died after suffering a fractured skull, THE CITY reported.
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Advocates with The Legal Aid Society quickly excoriated jail officials after the report, and argued it fits into a wider effort to bury damning information about squalid conditions in city correctional facilities.
“This is another lowlight in the Department of Correction’s campaign to keep outside eyes away from the catastrophe that is the City’s jail system and the harm it inflicts daily on New Yorkers trapped inside its deadly walls,” a statement from the group read.
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“The City cannot be permitted to isolate the jails from outside oversight, especially at a moment when so many of our incarcerated clients are vulnerable to suffering severe harm or even death.”
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The lack of transparency in recent weeks has apparently extended to a federal monitor assigned as a watchdog over the city’s jails, according to a recent court filing.
The monitor — Steve Martin — wrote his team only learned about five recent incidents involving serious injuries or deaths from media reports or other credible external sources.
In two cases, jail officials didn’t generate reports on the incidents until days later, he wrote.
“Serious, life-altering harm has occurred, and an imminent risk of harm to others in custody remains,” he wrote.
When asked Thursday about the monitor’s admonishment, Mayor Eric Adams defended Louis Molina, the Department of Correction’s commissioner, and argued nothing was required to be reported. He also backed the decision to not report deaths.
“Whatever methods he needs to do it within the boundaries of not violating any laws or rights of people, I support,” Adams said of Molina.
Three people this year have died after being in custody at Rikers Island.
The recent deaths and actions by Department of Correction officials have only amplified calls by advocates that federal authorities take over the city’s jails.
“It is clearer than ever that only an authority independent of the City, such as a federal receiver, can address the ongoing crises plaguing the Department of Correction,” the Legal Aid statement reads.
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