Thirteen of New York’s House Democrats urged President Biden on Friday to deploy federal resources to help address the “humanitarian crisis” on Rikers Island, charging that Mayor de Blasio is not doing enough to rectify deteriorating conditions at the jail.
In a letter to Biden and Attorney General Merrick Garland, the Democrats, led by Bronx Rep. Ritchie Torres, said de Blasio’s five-pronged Rikers plan falls far short of the “immediate intervention required to deescalate a very real crisis.”
“The federal government has the duty and capacity to step in to provide much-needed oversight and accountability for the staff, officers and detainees that reside on Rikers Island,” reads the letter, which was signed by all members of the city’s Democratic House delegation.
“We cannot continue to allow Rikers Island to deteriorate to the point that it is no longer a safe place for those in custody or those who work in the jails. We are neglecting to meet our responsibility to care for incarcerated New Yorkers with dignity and respect.”
The Democratic group — which also included Reps. Hakeem Jeffries, Jerry Nadler, Carolyn Maloney, Gregory Meeks, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Thomas Suozzi, Grace Meng, Nydia Velázquez, Mondaire Jones, Yvette Clarke, Jamaal Bowman and Adriano Espaillat — did not specify what type of federal action they want from Biden.
The federal government already has an independent Rikers monitor, who said in court Friday that the city needs outside intervention to stabilize the volatile situation at the jail.
Beyond intervention, the Congress members asked Garland to order the Justice Department’s civil rights division to launch a probe into the “deplorable conditions” unfolding on Rikers.
“It should go without saying that these conditions are unacceptable,” they wrote.
A spokesman for de Blasio did not return a request for comment. A White House official referred comment to the Justice Department, a spokesman for which did not immediately respond to an email.
Twelve inmates in city Correction Department custody have died since December — 11 of them on Rikers Island. Lawmakers and prison-reform advocates have attributed the deaths to a perilous combination of inmate overcrowding, Correction Department staff shortages and decades of systemic neglect on Rikers.
As part of his five-point plan, de Blasio has ordered the reopening of previously shuttered facilities on Rikers to alleviate overcrowding.
Torres and his colleagues said they worried that aspect of the plan could jeopardize de Blasio’s own proposal to shutter the jail for good by 2027.
“We find it especially alarming that the plan as proposed could inhibit the timely completion of this goal,” they wrote.
