{"id":463142,"date":"2022-06-15T02:58:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-14T23:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/squalid-crowded-conditions-return-to-rikers-island-intake-center\/"},"modified":"2022-06-15T02:58:00","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T23:58:00","slug":"squalid-crowded-conditions-return-to-rikers-island-intake-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/squalid-crowded-conditions-return-to-rikers-island-intake-center\/","title":{"rendered":"#Squalid, crowded conditions return to Rikers Island intake center"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2413860b9f6\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a2413860b9f6\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/squalid-crowded-conditions-return-to-rikers-island-intake-center\/#%E2%80%9CSqualid_crowded_conditions_return_to_Rikers_Island_intake_center%E2%80%9D\" >&#8220;Squalid, crowded conditions return to Rikers Island intake center&#8221;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"%E2%80%9CSqualid_crowded_conditions_return_to_Rikers_Island_intake_center%E2%80%9D\"><\/span>&#8220;Squalid, crowded conditions return to Rikers Island intake center&#8221;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignleft\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Rikers Island\u2019s intake center is overrun with detainees packed in small, fetid pens for days on end with little supervision \u2014 just like its previous admissions facility that was closed only nine months ago for the same violations, the Board of Correction revealed Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Eric M. Taylor Center, where most new DOC admissions are now processed and quarantined before they are assigned to a housing area, has become overrun with detainees in violation of city regulations, according to jailhouse sources and a board member who recently visited the facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe admission area, the intake facility, the receiving room was packed with screaming people. \u2026 Some had been there for days,\u201d said BOC board member Bobby Cohen, who visited the facility last week, during a public meeting Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere were 100-plus people crowded into pens without basic, basic services. Filthy pens without capacity to urinate in a urinal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Cohen said the sheer \u201cvolume\u201d of people not getting access to medication, clothes, bathrooms, phone calls and transportation to their court dates was overwhelming.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the pens, people can\u2019t get to court. \u2026 This is the post-arraignment period, and they are likely to have to go back to court in the next day or two, and there is so much chaos there that they can\u2019t get back to court,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-island-jail-3-3.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"The Eric M. Taylor Center at Rikers Island has squalid conditions and is overcrowded, according to a Board of Correction member.\" class=\"wp-image-22661120\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-island-jail-3-3.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-island-jail-3-3.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-island-jail-3-3.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>The Eric M. Taylor Center at Rikers Island has squalid conditions and is overcrowded, according to a Board of Correction member.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Dennis A. Clark for NY Post<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hard to say this \u2019cause I\u2019ve been to a lot of jails and many, many visits, but it was really frightening. \u2026 I\u2019ve never seen something as chaotic as this in the department.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The conditions are strikingly similar to those seen last year in the Otis Bantum Correctional Center\u2019s intake area, where detainees languished for days on end with little access to food, water, bathrooms and other basic services before it was shut down in September.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Images of the unit, revealed by The Post, showed dozens of men crammed together and sitting on floors covered in human excrement as they waited for days to be assigned a bed \u2013 a process the city Department of Correction is required to complete within 24 hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When OBCC\u2019s intake was shut down in September, admissions were moved to EMTC, but nine months in, conditions have now deteriorated there as well as the facility reels from a lack of staff and a population that\u2019s increased 22% since March.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"572\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-island-jail-2-1.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"A crowded cell at Rikers Island's tis Bantum Correctional Center last year.\" class=\"wp-image-22661136\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-island-jail-2-1.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1536 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-island-jail-2-1.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-island-jail-2-1.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>A crowded cell at Rikers Island\u2019s Otis Bantum Correctional Center last year.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-3.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"OBCC was shut down in September due to poor conditions.\" class=\"wp-image-22661138\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-3.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-3.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-3.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>OBCC was shut down in September due to poor conditions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Incidents where uniformed staff use force against detainees have been higher at the facility than the department-wide average for each month of the year so far, according to board member Freya Rigterink. Year-to-date, such incidents are up about 6%, DOC Commissioner Louis Molina acknowledged.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The average rate of slashings and stabbings is also higher at EMTC than the department-wide rate so far this year, and in three separate incidents in May, detainees were injured so badly in unsupervised housing areas, they were sent to the hospital, Rigterink said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Further, Cohen noted most new DOC admissions aren\u2019t undergoing body scans to check for drugs, weapons or other contraband upon their arrival, which is compounding overall safety concerns at the troubled jail complex, where six people have died in custody so far this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-island-jail-1-1.jpg?w=1024\" alt=\"BOC board member Bobby Cohen visited EMTC and reported that he saw &quot;100-plus people crowded into pens.&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-22661157\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-island-jail-1-1.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1535 1536w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-island-jail-1-1.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/rikers-island-jail-1-1.jpg?quality=75&amp;strip=all&amp;w=512 512w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>BOC board member Bobby Cohen visited EMTC and reported that he saw \u201c100-plus people crowded into pens.\u201d<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Photo by ED JONES\/AFP via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The facility, which sees about 45 new admissions a day, only conducted 40 body scans for the entire month of May, Cohen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the first 12 days of June, just seven body scans were done, Cohen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n    <\/aside>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re trying to prevent drugs coming into the facility and weapons, but you\u2019re doing very little about it. You have a great tool, and it\u2019s not being used,\u201d he said to Molina.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He noted that EMTC\u2019s warden is aware of the issues, and when Molina was asked what\u2019s being done to fix it, the DOC commish didn\u2019t deny there was a problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt this time, EMTC is the facility best suited to process new admissions, the CDC continues to recommend that correctional facilities maintain an isolation and quarantine procedures and remain nimble in case that new variants emerge, and more precautions are needed to be enacted,\u201d Molina said in response.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe recognize that we are still not where we want to be when it comes to staffing levels, I\u2019ve said that repeatedly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He noted use of force incidents were significantly down at EMTC in March and April compared to last year but that they jumped back up in May after \u201cresources\u201d were diverted to other facilities seeing high rates of violence.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Board members said the deteriorating conditions create an unsafe situation for both staff and detainees, which experts say ultimately leads to higher rates of crime because of recidivism.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEMTC is an unsafe, shuttered facility the city reopened two years ago to supposedly stop the spread of coronavirus,\u201d said Wanda Bertram, a communications strategist with Prison Policy Initiative, to The Post.\u00a0\u201cTwo years after its reopening, we can see that what\u2019s always been true about jails is true about EMTC: It fails to keep hundreds of people safe. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe only way for the city to stop this perpetual cycle of jail overcrowding is to reduce the jail population, which means halting unnecessary incarceration.\u201d\u00a0\n                        <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. 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