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Politics: Putting A Federal Receiver In Charge Could Clean Up

POLITICS: Putting a federal receiver in charge could clean up Rikers β€” if it’s done right

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A Manhattan federal judge just moved one step closer to handing control of city jails over to a receiver. It’s undoubtedly the right move β€” if done right.

Southern District Judge Laura Swain, who’s presiding over a Legal Aid Society lawsuit against the Department of Corrections, on Wednesday held the city in contempt for the β€œgrave” conditions at Rikers, slamming the β€œglacial pace of reform” by the DOC and warning she’s β€œinclined” to bring in a receiver.

But she wants the parties to draft up what a takeover would look like, including who the receiver would be and how much power he or she would have.

Rikers Island is a violent, chaotic, drug-ridden nightmare: At least 32 inmates have died in custody these last three years, jail staff keep getting attacked, and gangs often do what they please.

A drastic intervention is long overdue.

A federal monitor has been in place since a 2015 settlement β€” with not much to show for it after nine years and $10 million in taxpayer money.

Leadership turnover at DOC, union resistance to work-rule changes and other power squabbles frustrate any lasting improvement.

It’s time to bring in the big guns; a fed who will actually have total decision-making power.

Yet Swain is right to be cautious: The wrong receivership could make things worse, whether by letting impractical advocates have too much sway or by exacerbating the jail’s labor issues.

And a federal receiver must be able to overrule City Council interference as well as dictate work-rule changes outside the union-contracting process.

Whoever lands the job will need to have the authority β€” and the spine β€” to resist pressure from both the unions, which have railed against the idea of handing control over to the feds, and the β€œcriminal-justice reform” activists.

And the city needs Rikers to work, because the so-called plan to replace it is years behind schedule and fundamentally foolish: Spending billions to build jails in four boroughs (which can hold only a fractionΒ of inmates now on the island) is not only a waste of money; it would make New York City more dangerous.

For a fraction of the price, we could modernize Rikers and clean up the problems.Β 

Kudos to Swain for seeking a plan that can bring the kind of reform city jails need.



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