A federal judge held the New York City Department of Correction in contempt of court Thursday after she learned that jails officials had put detainees accused of fire-setting in a specialized unit without sprinklers in cells, and failed to inform a federal monitor about it.
District Judge Laura Swain announced her decision at a court conference on Thursday in the Southern District of New York.
Under a June 13 federal court order, Swain said she made it clear the department is required to have “proactive” communication with the federal monitor in charge of overseeing violence levels in the jails.
She said, under the order, the monitor should have been given at least three weeks notice about the new Arson Reduction Housing Unit. Instead, the monitor only found officials had opened the unit on Nov. 13 after an anonymous source on Rikers told them about it.
Swain said in court that the contempt ruling gave her “no joy.”
“The blatant failure to communicate here is, in a word, contemptuous,” she said.
The judge said the department could purge the contempt if it followed three new requirements she set, including telling every department staff member the importance of communicating with the monitor.
The department must show the court it has met the requirements by Feb. 16. If it doesn’t follow them, Swain said she would consider charging the city a daily fine of at least $1,000 per violation.
The court hearing was one of the first public appearances of the new head of New York City’s troubled jails department, Lynelle Maginley-Liddie, who was appointed Department of Correction commissioner last Friday by Mayor Eric Adams.
The federal monitor and federal judge each expressed “hope” that Maginley-Liddie would bring transparency to the department, after the departure of Louis Molina, as Rikers faces a takeover.
“I don’t think receivership is a foregone conclusion here,” she told reporters after the hearing.
Asked about how it felt for her department to be held in contempt of court on her first week on the job, Maginley-Liddie pointed to the court’s optimism with her appointment.
“While the court found us in contempt, there’s an opportunity to purge the contempt… and we remain committed to ensuring people are safe and secure in our facilities,” she said.
Last month, Legal Aid attorneys filed a federal court motion asking that New York City’s jails be put into receivership due the increasing pattern of violence and death at Rikers Island over the past eight years.
Under their proposal, an independent jail manager would be appointed to take over authority of the city jails in whatever way is necessary to make them safer.
The city opposes receivership and asked the judge for a 2-month extension to file its response Thursday. Swain granted that request. Officials must now file their opposition in March 2024.
Swain said the worst case scenario, now, is that the city agency’s actions in the coming months under Maginley-Liddie’s leadership build a good foundation for a receiver.
“Best case is it persuades me receivership is unnecessary.”
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