Rikers Island

New York City officials say they will close two aging jail facilities this fall

The family of a transgender woman with epilepsy who died in an isolated cell in New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex has settled its lawsuit with the city for $5.9 million, the family’s lawyer said. The settlement was reached Friday in the federal lawsuit over the June 7, 2019, death of Layleen Polanco. The terms of the settlement were not...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered effective immediately that city jails end the use of solitary confinement for some inmates with underlying medical conditions as part of a broader push to end the practice altogether. The mayor made the announcement Monday during his daily press briefing. It comes on the heels of the New York City’s Department...

New York City’s Department of Correction plans to discipline more than a dozen officers for their conduct related to the death of Layleen Polanco, who died at Rikers Island in 2019.

A Rikers Island inmate climbed a recreation yard fence and ran to the shoreline Thursday, but two emergency service correction officers jumped in to thwart the escape, Department of Correction and union officials said. The detainee, who sources identified as Arthur Brown, was “promptly apprehended by DOC staff” around 12:30 p.m., said Peter Thorne, deputy commissioner of public information for…

Hundreds of prisoners released early from Rikers due to COVID concerns are being enabled to re-offend again and again without consequences, law enforcement leaders say. “We’re continuing to see people get arrested over and over and let right back out. And it really defies common sense,” NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said in an interview with NBC New York. Of...

New footage outside the Rikers Island jail cell in New York City where transgender woman Layleen Xtravaganza Cubilette-Polanco died last June reveals that guards tried to wake her for approximately an hour and a half before calling for help.

At the peak of the pandemic, the city released thousands of inmates from Rikers Island over COVID-19 fears. However, a study shows that at least two hundred and fifty prisons have been arrested after being released. Melissa Russo reports with exclusive new video.

A New York advocacy group is determined to keep homeless teens off the streets and formerly incarcerated young adults out of Rikers Island jails during the coronavirus pandemic. 33-year-old Carmelita Osborne is a youth advocate at Friends of Island Academy, a nonprofit organization that helps transition former Rikers inmates back into the community. Before stay-at-home orders, she would normally visit…

Health experts say prisons and jails are considered a potential epicenter for America’s coronavirus pandemic.

Inmates in jails across New York and New Jersey are being released to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and Harvey Weinstein has tested positive for the virus.

Mayor Bill de Blasio says officials are reviewing 200 inmates that could be released from New York City’s Rikers Island due to the spread of COVID-19. The announcement comes one day after officials revealed that more than three dozen inmates and employees had tested positive on Rikers Island. De Blasio said 23 inmates over 50 years old and at “low…

Twenty-one inmates on Rikers Island tested positive for novel coronavirus – a dramatic increase from the first case reported by Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday.

A New York City corrections officer stationed on Rikers Island has tested positive for COVID-19, city officials announced Wednesday, just days after an investigator working at the jail died after testing positive for the virus.  A number of city leaders and public advocates are calling for immediate assistance to help the elderly incarcerated and to adequately the staff working inside…

Team coverage of the coronavirus pandemic.

Prison consultant Craig Rothfeld said he’s getting Harvey Weinstein ready for the for first 90 days of his sentence, calling it a “very dark” time where he will be “powerless” — and said his convicted sex offender status could make him a target. NBC New York’s Sarah Wallace reports.

A retired NYPD police officer and her husband, who spent 20 years behind bars for a murder he maintains he did not commit, will now begin a new life together after his release from prison on parole — and will continue to fight to clear his name. I-Team’s Sarah Wallace reports.

Keon Richmond was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison for shooting Alastasia Bryan five times in her chest, hand and both arms as she sat in her car before she was set to go to work at Rikers Island

Six New York City correction officers assigned to Rikers Island and more than a dozen others, including inmates and intermediaries, are charged with conspiring to accept bribes and smuggling contraband into the jail, federal prosecutors say. The investigation conducted by the FBI and the city’s Department of Investigation revealed a scheme by the defendants to smuggle narcotics into the...

On Long Island, almost 30 inmates left the Nassau County Jail as part of New York’s controversial new bail reform law. Greg Cergol reports.