NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — New York lawmakers detailed a “humanitarian crisis" after their tour of Rikers Island Monday — where legislators witnessed overcrowded holding cells, fecal matter, garbage and cockroaches that littered the floor.
Assemblywoman Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas and state Sen. Jessica Ramos told reporters they even witnessed an inmate attempt suicide in their visit to the site where at least nine people have died this year.
"'Miss come here,'" [He] jumped up there and tried to hang themselves," Gonzalez-Rojas said. "Me and Senator Ramos were right there. Nobody deserves this."
Assemblyman Kenny Burgos called Rikers "horror island," arguing that despite the advanced warning of their 14-person visit — "they still could not shield the atrocities that go on."
The lawmakers called on Gov. Kathy Hochul to sign legislation that would release inmates with only minor parolee violations as overcrowding and limited staff plague the site.
“This is a crisis and this is a crisis of our own making," said Queens Assemblyman Zohran Mamdan. "This can be dealt with by prosecutors who need to stop sending people to Rikers Island.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced an emergency plan Tuesday to try and resolve issues hurting the jail site, including hiring more cleaning staff and emergency contractors to fix broken doors, speeding up intake processes to reduce overcrowding, expanding medical evaluation services, staffing NYPD in courtrooms to free up correction officers and punish missing staff with 30-day suspensions without pay.
"We understand tremendous challenges have existed in Rikers before the pandemic and the pandemic made them worse," de Blasio said Tuesday during his daily briefing. "We understand it's tough work and a tough environment, but folks not showing up for work is unacceptable."
Ahead of de Blasio's announcement and the lawmakers' visit, Republican mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa demanded he "spend a week on Rikers Island."
Sliwa delivered a letter to a security guard outside Gracie Mansion insisting de Blasio meet with correctional officers "who are under attack."
“He hasn’t been to Rikers in four years, and refuses to go,” said Sliwa, founder of the Guardian Angels. “It’s total anarchy and chaos on Rikers Island. This mayor does not want to go there, to The Rock.”
De Blasio defended his administration's efforts Monday to fix the "profoundly broken" jail that is set to be closed by Aug. 2027.
"For years and years, [we] have been working to change the situation in a place that's just profoundly broken, that should have been closed a long time ago, and we are closing it," he said. "But we have invested a huge amount to try to fix that situation, even in a place, bluntly, we shouldn't be anymore."
De Blasio noted a discussion was underway with the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association, which represents officers at Rikers.
"We're going to keep trying to keep the officers safe, the folks who are incarcerated safe, everyone safe, and move the system forward," the mayor said. "No matter how tough the dynamic or the place is, our job is to keep finding any progress we can and keep moving it forward."
However, union spokesperson Michael Skelly previously blamed de Blasio for the "atrocious, inhumane, deplorable conditions" at jail which has made officers sick.
"He's refused to hire corrections officers for three years," Skelly said. "So we now have less than 7,600 corrections officers, down from 9,000 two years ago. We have an inmate population that has doubled in one year: 3,400 a year ago to almost 6,000 today, while not hiring a single correction officer."
The city council approved an $8.7 billion package in 2019 to close Rikers and three other jails, according to Reuters.
With a number of Rikers' buildings closed, De Blasio said the city is looking to for an "entirely new correction system with community-based jails."
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