Since 1884 Riker’s Island has been used a New York City jail. Since then Riker’s Island has grown into a huge complex that houses 10 facilities on over 400 acres of land. The name Riker’s Island is now synonymous with jail.
Riker’s Island achieved national recognition for being the first in country to implement a much heralded new reentry model for inmates. On February 22, 2013 New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced, “In a groundbreaking effort to further reduce recidivism in New York City, and raise the bar for cities across the country, the Individualized Correction Achievement Network will both target resources toward the high-risk inmates that can benefit most from in-jail programming and incentivize the work of contractors to achieve the outcomes we all want to see. This is the first jail-based re-entry program model to combine best practices with a nationally validated, evidence-based assessment tool and pay-for-success program delivery. By incorporating national best practices and evidence-based solutions into a program designed to reduce recidivism, the Correction Department will be able to marshal its reentry resources towards achieving better results.”
But, Riker’s Island is again in the headlines, this time for a more ominous reason. The jail complex has had its share of violent incidents. It is known for re-occurring out-breaks of violence among inmates, often carried out by warring gangs. Click here to go to website.
But the latest brutal beating of an inmate echoes past assaults by corrections staff. According to Wikipedia:
“In February 2008, Correction Officer Lloyd Nicholson was indicted after he allegedly used a select group of teenage inmates as enforcers under a regime called "the program", as well as allegedly beating inmates himself. However, "the program" has been known to exist for well over a decade and is unique to the adolescents. The inmates use it as a test for other inmates and a system of control amongst themselves. On June 1, 2007, Captain Sherman Graham and Assistant Deputy Warden Gail Lewis were arrested by the New York City Department of Investigation (DOI) for covering up an assault on an inmate.[25] The arrest came after both were indicted by a Bronx Grand Jury. It is alleged that on October 4, 2006, Graham assaulted an inmate after he refused to comply with strip searching procedures at the Robert N. Davoren Center (RNDC, C-74). The assault occurred in front of 15 Correction Academy Recruits in training.[26] After the assault, Graham ordered the Recruits to write on their Use of Force Witness Reports that Graham assaulted the inmate in self-defense after the inmate punched Graham. Lewis, who was Graham’s supervisor, did not intervene to stop anything. Lewis also submitted a false Use of Force Witness Report.”
The new scandal is rocking the jail complex, and shaking up the men and women who perform their correctional duties honorably and professionally. The New York Times reports that several correctional officers and supervisors were allegedly involved in the July 11, 2012 brutal beating of an inmate, and the cover-up that followed, all under the alleged direction of Eliseo Perez, Jr, the assistant chief of security at Riker’s Island. The attack on the inmate came after two inmates were slashed and a search for weapons among the inmate population was ordered.
Perez, who abruptly retired, and nine other Riker’s correctional staff members were indicted on June 26 for the unprovoked attack on inmate Jahmal Lightfoot. Lightfoot suffered severe injuries, after Perez ordered the officers to “kick his teeth in” according to the Times. The Times reports that after the attack some officers concocted a story that Lightfoot slashed himself, and went so far as to offer up a homemade weapon. The indicted officers also reported that Lightfoot attacked one of the officers. Bronx Assistant District Attorney Lawrence Piergrossi alleges the injuries suffered by Lightfoot were not self-inflicted and that Lightfoot did not have a weapon, or attempt to attack an officer when he was beaten by the officers. The attack was ordered because Perez believed “This guy thinks he’s tough.”
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