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Chokeholds, chemical spray, and head strikes: Rikers’ federal monitor details abusive correction officer unit
By
Matt Katz
Published Apr 25, 2023
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Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
By
Matt Katz
Published Apr 25, 2023
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A unit of correction officers in charge of responding to emergencies at Rikers Island has a tendency to exacerbate situations, with officers putting incarcerated people in chokeholds, spraying them with chemicals, and hitting them on the head, according to a federal monitor who oversees the facility’s operations.
A court filing on Monday detailed a chaotic scene at Rikers’ George R. Vierno Center late last year in which a “very large cadre” of Emergency Services Unit officers conducted a “disorganized search operation that quickly became chaotic.”
“A group of incarcerated individuals were attempting to comply with multiple and conflicting commands from the many [Emergency Services Unit] officers,” according to the report. Instead, as the detainees were grouped together “in close quarters,” officers standing above them on a stairwell doused them with chemical spray, prompting them to scatter. At that point, chaos ensued, with officers inflicting pain on “multiple individuals.”
One detainee suffered seizures as a result “and was left unattended for a substantial period of time.” Another was put in a chokehold by an officer even though he was already handcuffed; he landed on his head and was then “harshly shoved head-first into a solid door as he was being escorted.”
After the incident, officers filed incomplete reports about what happened, and the “problematic issues” were not identified in a subsequent department investigation.
“This is emblematic of the types of incidents that continue to alarm the [federal] Monitoring Team, but, that to date, have not received meaningful action from the Department,” the report said.
The current leader of the Emergency Services Unit is expected to be replaced soon, according to the monitor. Still, other members of the unit who were previously removed due to “poor conduct” are back on the team, the monitor said. In addition, the number of department employees assigned to handle investigations involving use of force has plummeted by nearly 50% since 2020, the monitor found.
This latest anecdote about yet another violation of humanitarian standards in city jails comes in advance of a federal court hearing on Thursday, in which the commissioner of the Department of Correction, Louis Molina, is set to argue before a judge that the department is working to comply with mandates from the federal monitor. Molina’s spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment.
Federal prosecutors will also attend the hearing. U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Damian Williams has so far resisted calls to ask the court to appoint a receiver who would replace city officials as the decision-making authority there. But an addendum from prosecutors in the most recent monitor report was blunt: “The jails continue to be plagued by an extremely high level of violence and disorder. Incarcerated people and corrections staff continue to face an imminent risk of harm on a daily basis.”
Federal monitor Steve Martin and his team, who have been paid nearly $20 million so far by city taxpayers, was installed more than seven years ago to quell violence and address officers’ propensity for use of force. But as Gothamist has previously reported, the rate of violence and use of force has only worsened since then.
The president for the correction officers' union, Benny Boscio, criticized the latest filing from the federal monitor, saying that Martin wanted to reduce violence at the jails while also condemning the deployment of the Emergency Services Unit, which he said has made the jails safer.
"It is downright data manipulation to portray ESU as part of the problem, when in fact they have been a key factor in the solution - overall safer jails," Boscio said in a statement. "Our ESU members risk their lives to prevent and mitigate violent inmate melees, while the monitor is paid millions of dollars to work remotely and second-guess trained tactical experts from afar."
This story has been updated to include comment from the correction officers' union.
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Matt Katz
Matt Katz is a former WNYC & Gothamist reporter.
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