Fortune Society Statement Supporting Receivership

Eleven years ago, The Legal Aid Society filed the Nunez class action lawsuit in federal court, citing excessive force and brutality by Department of Correction (DOC) staff against people in custody in New York City jails. This lawsuit was filed after multiple class action and individual lawsuits were brought against DOC, and resulted in court-ordered requirements for DOC to modify their practices and culture to prevent further harm to people in their custody, and a federal monitor being appointed. Despite the development of action plans and efforts by outside consultants, to aid in the necessary changes outlined in the Nunez settlement, the harmful practices in our jails continue and have worsened. Over the last two years, 34 people have died; 18 died this year alone, coming significantly close to the worst year on record, 2013, when the jail population was nearly double what it is today and 22 people died. According to DOC’s own reporting, rates of serious injuries, slashings and stabbings, assaults on staff, and uses of force with serious injury to people in custody are significantly higher now than four years ago. More compelling is that these rates increased as the jail population decreased from close to 9,000 to approximately 5,500.

As has been well-documented in Nunez court filings and Board of Corrections reports, uniformed officer posts have been and continue to remain unstaffed on housing units. Nearly 12 percent of DOC workforce fails to report to work on average monthly. People in custody have died by suicide and overdose when posts were unstaffed but also when posts were staffed but officers did not perform their duties as required. Duties such as conducting rounds – which is particularly important for people with documented mental health issues – and transporting people to medical appointments. This negligence has led to further deaths when people were denied life-saving, regular medical care because they were not taken to medical appointments. George Pagan died on March 17, 2022, after his medical needs were ignored for days and after he was visibly unable to walk and lying on the floor of his cell. In the days leading up to his death, he was not transported to nine medical appointments and did not receive the necessary medication. In another stunning example of dereliction of duty that was captured on video surveillance cameras, during the evening of July 14, 2022, Michael Lopez and others smoked and sniffed substances while uniformed officers walked past them over a period of several hours, and then failed to perform rounds as required. Mr. Lopez died of an overdose that evening. DOC staff have also displayed shocking disregard for human life in the face of human suffering. In August of this year,

Michael Nieves died from suicide in front of officers who watched him bleed to death for ten minutes.

It is clear that the City alone cannot protect those held in its jails, nor the people who work there. The Fortune Society believes that appointing a receiver is vital to address and remedy this crisis.

We do not make this statement lightly. For 55 years, The Fortune Society has been supporting people during custody and upon their release through direct service and advocacy. Alongside and in partnership with State and City agencies, we provide programmatic resources and policy solutions. We have watched as this crisis in our jails has grown exponentially in recent years. It is clear that the culture of dysfunction, neglect and abuse in our City jails is too deeply entrenched to be solved without robust, creative, and external intervention, direction and authority. We cannot stand by routine and conventional processes. Without bold and immediate action, more people in custody will die preventable deaths, and more officers will remain at risk of being injured. The Fortune Society joins the growing chorus of elected officials and advocates who call for the appointment of a receiver.

– JoAnne Page

President and CEO of The Fortune Society