FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Trip Eggert, teggert@vera.org

November 27, 2024 — Yesterday, Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain found New York City and the Department of Correction in contempt on all 18 provisions reached in a settlement of a class-action lawsuit for failing to prevent violence and implement reform on Rikers Island. Judge Swain, who is the chief judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, ordered the parties to present a plan for receivership and indicated that she is strongly considering appointing a federal receiver. Nicholas Turner, president and director of the Vera Institute of Justice, issued the following statement:

“Judge Swain has given the city dozens of chances to address the crisis at Rikers Island, yet conditions continue to worsen. Over the last three years, the jail population has increased by nearly 25 percent. Rates of violence on Rikers Island, including stabbings and slashings, fights, and fire setting, are higher today than when the court first installed the monitor nine years ago. Holding the city in contempt and moving for receivership is a reasonable and measured response to a deadly system that has been failing for too long. As Judge Swain noted, 'The last nine years also leave no doubt that continued insistence on compliance with the Court’s orders by persons answerable principally to political authorities would lead only to confrontation and delay.’

“It is past time to stop putting politics over safety, as Mayor Adams and his administration have done in slowing down the closure of Rikers Island. Judge Swain should not only order receivership but direct the city to act urgently to close Rikers Island and move to a smaller, safer, and more modern borough-based jail system. There is no reforming the current jail complex to make it adequately safe and humane for the staff who work or the people who are incarcerated there.”

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About the Vera Institute of Justice: The Vera Institute of Justice is powered by hundreds of advocates, researchers, and policy experts working to transform the criminal legal and immigration systems until they’re fair for all. Founded in 1961 to advocate for alternatives to money bail in New York City, Vera is now a national organization that partners with impacted communities and government leaders for change. We develop just, antiracist solutions so that money doesn’t determine freedom; fewer people are in jails, prisons, and immigration detention; and everyone is treated with dignity. Vera’s headquarters is in Brooklyn, New York, with offices in Washington, DC, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. For more information, visit vera.org.