Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Incompetent Rikers Official Who Presided Over Extreme Violence "Retires"
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Oct 28, 2014
Modified Oct 28, 2014
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
DOC
By
Christopher Robbins
Published Oct 28, 2014
Modified Oct 28, 2014
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
At a City Council oversight hearing earlier this month, Correction Department Commissioner Joseph Ponte was asked why his Chief of Department, William Clemons, was not present. In a 2012 internal audit that was later scrubbed by then-Commissioner Dora Schriro, Clemons and another ranking official were found to have "abdicated all responsibility" in their duties to oversee the juvenile detention center, which at the time was mired in what the DOJ described as "a deep-seated culture of violence." Ponte, who promoted Clemons in May, told the councilmembers that Clemons was "on a long-planned vacation." Now it appears that vacation is permanent.
"Chief Clemons was a model of stability in a tumultuous time. Our staff will greatly miss him, and so will I," Ponte said in a statement announcing Clemons's retirement, effective December 1st.
Under Chief Clemon’s [sic] guidance, the Department undertook and realized many substantial reforms, including implementing an early lock-in at all of our facilities, creating a management plan for a new category of Young Adult inmates ages 18 - 21, and rolling out specialized housing for high-custody and mentally ill inmates which will almost certainly result in safer jails and better long-term outcomes for inmates.
Clemons also presided over an era of unprecedented violence at the juvenile unit on Rikers. Correction officers used "headshots" to contain teenaged inmates, taunted them while they attempted suicide in solitary confinement, and beat inmates who refused to stifle reports of violence.
Clemons told the auditors in 2012 that he found Excel spreadsheets of daily inmate fights too difficult to read and did not know how to print them. Turhan Gumusdere, a deputy warden, told the auditors the same thing, and that he assigned his staff to read the reports, even though they were "incompetent."
The audit recommended that both men be fired. According to the Times, Commissioner Schriro ordered a new draft of the audit with these conclusions omitted and the number of violence incidents dialed down. Ponte promoted Clemons to Deputy Chief in May.
"In the attempts to really turn this agency around to make the changes, the systemic changes that really need to be made, do you really think it was appropriate to not only keep these individuals on board, but to promote them?" Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito asked Ponte at the hearing.
"Yes," Ponte replied, pointing Clemons' decades of experience. "The report that I reviewed when I promoted them was not the report you're reading from."
In a joint statement released this morning, Mark-Viverito and Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley said, "For too long, the Department of Correction has been rife with the mismanagement and mistreatment of inmates, and the Council’s oversight has only served to further shed light on the deep-seated issues plaguing the DOC.
"We thank U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara for spearheading investigations and urge Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Ponte to appoint new leadership that will commit to implementing transparent and humane policies that will keep the public safe, maintain the dignity of the City’s jailed population and resolve long-standing allegations of abuse and neglect at Rikers Island.”
Tagged
department of correction
Joseph Ponte
Rikers Island
William Clemons
original
Christopher Robbins
Christopher Robbins is a New York City reporter covering transportation, affordable housing, local politics, and criminal justice. His work has also appeared in New York Magazine, The Village Voice and The New York Times. Chris is a graduate of Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Virginia, and enjoys biking to Fort Tilden in the summertime.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Forest Hills Stadium can keep its concerts under deal with neighbors
Neighbors had complained of traffic and loud concerts for years.
By
Ryan Kost
Published Oct 22, 2026 at 2:49 p.m. ET
NYC Council to grill Mamdani officials on collapsed Hunts Point Produce Market deal
Council Speaker Julie Menin called the $650 million plan "mission critical."
By
Elizabeth Kim
News
NYC Council to grill Mamdani officials on collapsed Hunts Point Produce Market deal
Council Speaker Julie Menin called the $650 million plan "mission critical."
By
Elizabeth Kim
NYPD arrests 17-year-old in fatal Midtown subway platform shooting
By
Charles Lane
Ex-Adams aide accused of pocketing kickbacks from community program funds
By
Samantha Max
MTA to begin 6-year project to upgrade signal tech on A and C lines in Brooklyn and Queens
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .