NEW YORK: Four members of Congress from New York called for the release of prisoners and the closure of New York City’s troubled Rikers Island prison complex after another inmate was reported dead at the facility.
Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jerry Nadler, Jamal Bowman and Nidia Velázquez in a letter Tuesday to New York Governor Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio described prison conditions as reprehensible and nothing short of a humanitarian crisis. .
This demand has increased after the 11th death in Rikers Island this year. The city’s corrections department said an inmate died in prison on Sunday after he was told he was not feeling well and was taken to a hospital. His death came on the heels of both Hochul and de Blasio announcing plans to try to improve conditions on Rikers Island, where troubles had long been brewing amid the pandemic.
The Department of Corrections, the mayor’s office and the governor’s office did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
Members said the prison had failed to provide basic services to inmates and protection against the spread of COVID-19, and lawmakers who visited the facility recently found conditions that were life-threatening and appalling , the members of the House said in their letter.
Lawmakers reported overflowing toilets and floors covered with dead cockroaches, feces and rotting food. State Assembly member Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas said the prisoners told her they felt they were being treated like slaves and animals.
It was not immediately clear from the letter whether the four members of the House were asking for the immediate release of all prisoners, including those held for violent crimes, or to transfer some to other facilities.
Ocasio-Cortez’s office said congressmen believe prisoners should be released. Messages from the offices of other members of the House seeking additional information were not immediately returned.
At least five of the 11 prisoners who died in Rikers Island this year died in suspected suicides. The deteriorating condition at the prison came amid a slowdown in court proceedings, more prisoners were released awaiting trial, and there was a shortage of older staff, officials said.
At one point this summer, more than a third of the city’s prison guards were on sick leave or medically unfit to work with prisoners. Some guards missed the shift without any explanation.
De Blasio announced measures last week that include requiring prison guards to obtain a doctor’s note if they miss work for more than a day or face suspension without pay. Hochul on Friday signed legislation that largely ended the practice of imprisoning people for technical parole violations. The Democratic governor also said she is asking the state parole board to immediately release 191 people and move 200 prisoners to state facilities.
Michael Skelly, a spokesman for the Correctional Officers Benevolent Association, representing prison guards, dismissed the letter.
The closing recursions are a talking point and not a reality right now. We have 6,000 prisoners. No new jail has been built yet.” He said, “Where are they going?
He encouraged members of Congress concerned about Rikers to use their power to expedite the construction of new prisons, for which community protests have been planned.
Skelly said those prisons would not open until 2027 at the earliest and that they would have a combined maximum capacity of 3,300 inmates.
___
Associated Press writer Michael Sisak contributed to this report.
Disclaimer: This post has been self-published from the agency feed without modification and has not been reviewed by an editor
read all breaking news, breaking news And coronavirus news Here