NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- The Department of Correction announced immediate measures to “combat an increasing wave of COVID-19 cases” at city jails, including the temporary suspension of in-person visits, as the positivity rate at Rikers Island nearly doubled in a day, and as the DOC commissioner called for the release of some inmates because of the “crisis.”
The positivity rate at Rikers jumped to 17% on Tuesday compared to 9.5% on Monday, according to a letter DOC commissioner Vincent Schiraldi sent to public defender organizations in which he urged them to call on the courts and elected officials to reduce the number of inmates.
In the letter, Schiraldi said the positivity rate had been hovering at 1% for months before the new surge. He said only 38% of inmates at jails are fully vaccinated and that “the risks to the human beings in our custody are at a crisis level.”
“As you are aware, considerable efforts were made at the beginning of the pandemic to reduce the jail population immediately in order to avert a major humanitarian catastrophe,” Schiraldi said. “All indications suggest that our jail population faces an equal or greater level of risk from COVID now as it did at the start of the pandemic.”
The DOC announced measures late Tuesday to combat the skyrocketing cases, saying it was temporarily suspending in-person visits, as well as congregate programs and services.
The DOC said the measures would be reviewed on an ongoing basis based on the spread of the omicron variant, which has swept through the city in recent days and is now believed to account for over 90% of new cases in New York and New Jersey, according to the CDC.
“We are doing what we can to limit the spread of omicron,” Schiraldi said in his letter to public defenders. “Sadly, that includes the suspension of congregate services and in-person visitation, additional movement protocols for individuals who may have been exposed to COVID, and reductions in programming.”
“These measures will have considerable negative effects on a jail population that is still reeling from two years of COVID and a staffing crisis that has contributed to unprecedented levels of tension, anxiety, and violence within the jails,” Schiraldi continued. “The consequences of removing these basic services and supports from those in our custody will be felt by both persons in custody and the officers who work hard every day to keep people here safe. We believe we have no choice.”
Beginning Wednesday, DOC will offer tele-visits in place of in-person visits and start suspending and/or modifying services immediately, officials said. Currently scheduled in-person visits will be replaced with tele-visits.
The DOC resumed in-person visits in June after they were largely suspended in March 2020 and replaced with tele-visits during the first wave of the pandemic.
For now, the DOC will offer tele-visits five days per week on the regular visit schedule. Family and loved ones can sign up for a tele-visit at nyc.gov. Some programs will still be offered in DOC housing areas, and inmates will continue to have access to health, faith-based and other services.
In an effort to limit transmission, the DOC is also designating at least one unit per a facility for people confirmed to have COVID-19.
“I implore you to ask the courts to similarly consider every available option to reduce the number of individuals in our jail,” Schiraldi wrote to public defenders. “Whether that means seeking supervised release in more cases or identifying cases that can be resolved with modifications to sentence length or requesting compassionate release for individuals who are at higher risk due to underlying medical conditions, I leave to your professional judgment.”
In response to the letter, the public defender organizations—including the Legal Aid Society, Brooklyn Defender Services, the Bronx Defenders, New York County Defender Services, Queens Defenders, and Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem—called on judges, district attorneys and elected officials “at every level of government to take immediate action to release people and halt new jail admissions.”
“As New York City experiences a massive surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, our fears that the virus would ravage the City’s jails have been realized, with positivity rates for people held in DOC custody doubling in the last 24 hours,” the organizations said in a statement.
“The virus is spreading like wildfire throughout Rikers Island and other DOC facilities, exacerbating an ongoing humanitarian crisis that has already taken the lives of 16 people this year and forced countless others to endure life-threatening conditions while in custody,” the statement continued.
The organizations warned that “without immediate decarceration, more lives will be lost.”
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