A federal judge has reportedly ordered an outside official to take over Rikers Island jail, which has been riddled with violence and catastrophe.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain, who oversees New York City’s jails, removed Rikers Island from the city’s control on Tuesday and ruled that an outside official shall be appointed to make major decisions regarding the embattled lockup facility, according to a report by the New York Times.
The outside official, who will be given the title “remediation manager,” will report directly to Judge Swain and will not be a city employee, implying that New York City Mayor Eric Adams will not have a say in who takes over the infamous jail.
While the incoming remediation manager for Rikers Island will be expected to work with the city’s correction commissioner, they will still be “empowered to take all actions necessary” to turn the jail around, Judge Swain wrote in her Tuesday ruling.
The judge added that “the necessary changes will take some time,” but “the court expects to see continual progress toward these goals.”
Notably, Judge Swain’s ruling comes nearly ten years after New York City’s jails found themselves subjected to federal oversight amid a settlement that stemmed from a class-action lawsuit.
In the settlement, it was agreed that the city’s jails — which include Rikers Island — would need to quell violence aimed at both detainees and correction officers, the New York Times noted.
The city has maintained control of Rikers Island “with white knuckles,” the newspaper reported, citing New York City “struggling to show progress” and “reaching the brink of losing oversight of the jails as critics of the system have called for a receiver.”
Lawyers and the federal monitor, meanwhile, have asserted that conditions at the lockup facility have not improved over the years.
“For years, the New York City Department of Correction has failed to follow federal court orders to enact meaningful reforms, allowing violence, disorder, and systemic dysfunction to persist,” lawyers Mary Lynne Werlwas and Debra Greenberger, who represent detainees, said in a joint statement.
“This appointment marks a critical turning point,” the attorneys added, calling Judge Swain’s ruling a “historic decision.”
The remediation manager will reportedly be granted “broad powers,” but will also be tasked with coming up with a plan for improvement alongside the correction commissioner, the judge wrote in Tuesday’s order.
Strikingly, this type of arrangement is considered a last resort for a problematic jail or prison, with only nine lockup systems having been put in receivership by a federal court since 1974 — not including Tuesday’s ruling on Rikers Island.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
