NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Rikers Island has been increasingly gripped by violence and disorder this summer under a staffing shortage, according to a new report.
The report, filed in court Tuesday by an assigned federal monitor of city jails, detailed chaotic, violent attacks in the infamous complex that have intensified this summer, heightening fear and anxiety among both those being held behind bars and staff, according to the New York Times.
The monitor, Steve Martin, documented serious injuries stemming from stabbings, assaults and — in one instance — second-degree burns from an attack when one incarcerated individual tossed scolding hot water onto another, the report found.
Officials have sounded the alarm over the conditions in city jails, where a majority of the population is being held awaiting trials and have not been convicted.
Mary Lynne Werlwas, the director of the Prisoner’s Rights Project at the Legal Aid Society, told the Times that the city has “completely lost control” of its jails and that the violence within them is worse than its been in decades.
The Times has reported five suicides in the past nine months within city jails in addition to more unsuccessful attempts.