Brief History and Introduction of the Conflict
Mediation will be conducted between Mr. Derrick Cephas, Chairperson of the New York City Board of Corrections (NYCBOC) and Ms. Ariana King*, who is a founding member of a group called CloseRiker. As one could speculate, the relationship between the two entities has always been troublesome, as both sides continue to push their agenda via the media. According to the documents, Ms. King would like to have Rikers Island City Jail shut down immediately, yet Mr. Cephas feels as if changes could be made and the jail would not have to be shut down. Ms. King has filed a case with the State of New York Attorney’s Office in addition to requesting the federal government step in and order the jail be shut down. As part of the process or resolution, the judge that would hear the case in New York state, Judge William Brown*, has ordered the case to mediation before he will hear the case.
According to The New York City Board of Correction website (n.d.), this nine-person board was created in 1957, and is in place to monitor and regulate the correctional institutions of New York City. Although from the outside this may seem uncomplicated, the complex jail system makes this task seemingly impossible. The board must
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In addition to the jail facility that is in question, the boards is responsible for sixteen court detention facilities, three hospital wards and four borough jails, that will eventually feed prisoners into the Rikers Island Facility City of New York,” n.d.) This amounts to rough twelve thousand prisoners being in the control and custody of the NYCBOC with a minor number of incidents being reported each
According to statistical data found in the Bureau for Justice Records, there are a number of problems that most prisons in the country face. The records indicate that the number of adult federal and state inmates increased from `139% in `1980 to 260% (Walker, 1999). As a natural default, the United States of America has the highest incarceration rate in the world. This in itself brings about one of the major problems that are faced in modern incarceration which is overcrowding in most prison facilities. The number of offenders in the country has increased rapidly over time while the country prison system has not really been able to cope with this rapid increase. Prisons intended for one or two inmates are now crowded with more than fifty individuals. Because of this most prisons are overcrowded and most of the facilities available are unable to cater for the needs of all the prisoners (Siegel, 2009).
There is no question that mass incarceration is a worldwide epidemic that needs to be discussed and addressed. America has five percent of the world’s population, but 25 percent of the world’s prison population (Just Leadership USA, 2017) Various policies dated back centuries helped to create this problem of mass incarceration (Just Leadership USA, 2017). Today there are 2.3 million Americans incarcerated throughout the state, local, and federal jails (Just Leadership USA, 2017). New York City (NYC) houses approximately 10,000 inmates per year; 43.7% of these inmates are diagnosed with having a mental health disability (New York City Department of Corrections, 2017). 54% of the inmates on Rikers Island are arrested for a minor offense and should be able to fight their cases from home; however, in many instances the family members are of low socio-economic status and unable to post bail (New York City Department of Corrections, 2017). Minor offenses include loitering, jumping the turnstiles, unnecessary Parole / Probation violations, and trespassing. In many instances, it is the mentally ill and homeless individuals who are arrested for trespassing as they elect to sleep in the subways instead of taking residency in a shelter. Moreover, many of these offenses does not have to result in an arrest. Police officers have the autonym to let some of these individuals go with a warning, desk ticket, and/or summons.
The proliferation of prison overcrowding has been a rising concern for the U.S. The growing prison population poses considerable health and safety risks to prison staffs and employees, as well as to inmates themselves. The risks will continue to increase if no immediate actions are taken. Whereas fighting proliferation is fundamentally the duty of the U.S. government, prison overcrowding has exposed that the U.S. government will need to take measures to combat the flaws in the prison and criminal justice system. Restructuring the government to combat the danger of prison overcrowding, specifically in California, thus requires reforms that reestablishes the penal codes, increases the state’s budget, and develops
On June 6, 2015, two inmates at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York were discovered missing early in the morning during a routine bed check. The inmates were identified as Richard Matt and David Sweat. Both men had been serving sentences for conviction of murder. Through law enforcement investigation, it was found that the two inmates sought out assistance from a female correctional officer at the correctional facility. It has been speculated that one of the inmates was involved in an inappropriate relationship with the correctional officer, identified as Joyce Mitchell. Mitchell provided
Out of all of the topics discussed in Module 5, Rivers Island had caught my attention. To the point that I decided to do my own extensive research on the topic. Jails in our criminal justice system are known to be corrupt and ruthless. After watching the video about Rikers Island, it concluded how corrupt our system is and why there is a desperate need for change. Rikers Island is the pure example of what most people would think every jail in America is like. The media has altered the vision of how jail and prison is like in America, but its crazy how Rikers Island is the exact image of the corruption.
In the 1970s and 1980s, a massive amount of inmates began fillin up the United States prison systems. This huge rate of growth in this short amount of time, has greatly contributed to the prison overcrowding that the United States faces today. In fact, the prisons are still filled to the seams. This enormous flood of inmates has made it practically impossible for prison officials to keep up with their facilities and supervise their inmates. One of the main reasons why many prisons have become overcrowded is because of states’ harsh criminal laws and parole practices (Cohen). “One in every 100 American adults is behind bars, the highest incarceration rate in the world” (Cohen). The amount of inmates in corrections systems, throughout the
The United States prison system struggles eminently with keeping offenders out of prison after being released. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than third of all prisoners who were arrested within five years of released were arrested within six months after release, with more than half arrested by the end of the year (Hughes, Wilson, & Beck, 2001). Among prisoners released in 2005 in 23 states with available data on inmates returned to prison, about half (55 percent) had either a parole or probation violation or an arrest for a new offense within three years that led to imprisonment (Durose, Cooper, & Snyder, 2014). Why are there many ex-offenders going back to prison within the first five years of release? Are there not enough resources to help offenders before or/and after being released from prison.
State run jail are one of the three local control of jails alternatives. State run is an operated jail system that is ran in four states such as Vermont, Delaware, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. These four states have full operational responsibility for jails. This is for the exception of Alaska and five locally operated jails. Cooperative regional arrangements is local control of jails that focus more on the local or state control. The states that was the first to adopt the regional jails are Virginia, North Dakota, West Virginia, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. The arrangements takes place when jurisdiction is willing to contact with neighboring cities and countries to discuss the housing of prisoners. If the government decides that no
Within this paper, you will find a comprehensive review of the United States prison system, and why it needs to analyzed to better support and reform the people of this country. I plan to persuade the other side (politicians and society) into seeing that the way the prison system is now, is not ethical nor economical and it must change. We have one of the world’s largest prison population, but also a very high rate of recidivism. Recidivism is when the prisoners continuously return to prison without being reformed. They return for the same things that they were doing before. So, this leads us to ask what exactly are we doing wrong? When this happens, we as a nation must continuously pay to house and feed these inmates. The purpose of a prison needs to be examined so we can decide if we really are reforming our inmates, or just continuing a vicious cycle. What is the true purpose of prison besides just holding them in a cell? There must be more we can do for these hopeless members of society.
Fixing Rikers Island by Marlin F. Horn article discusses the current problem confronting our correctional facilities. Overcrowded jails are an issue that has been impacting the United States jail populace for a considerable length of time. The author illustrated assessment about this issue and furthermore gives some contrasting option to take care of the issues particularly Riker Island. As agreed by Marlin Horn (2015), “takes credit for bringing needed attention to conditions at the jails, calls for the appointment of a federal monitor and identifies the long time president of the collective bargaining agent for the Correction Officers as an impediment to reform”. I certainly concur with Marlin the present condition on Rikers Island should be settled. By not having the sufficient space and support to fulfill prisoner needs or recovery, this will bring about detainees leaving the prison system not ready for regular citizen life. Thus, this will ensure that previous detainee falling once again into the jail system expanding the congestion issue. “The buildings on Rikers Island are poorly designed, they were not built to last or to serve the purpose intended, and most certainly never designed to house a population that by some current
Those that are incarcerated in NYC correctional facilities are supposed to be protected by the city. When a correctional officer is hired, they accept responsibility to protect inmates. However, Rikers Island is known to be one of the worst prisons in America and a lot of complaints are unfortunately due to the mistreatment and abuse from correctional officers. Some of the mistreatment and abuse that inmates face include, rape, violence, starvation and mental abuse. Rikers Island has one of the nation’s highest rates of solitary confinement and has been the target of dozens of lawsuits, yet this dangerous place still stands.
New York Penal Law states that in order for someone to be guilty of first degree murder one must intend to cause the death of another person or third person, cause the death of another person or third person; and whether the killing happened pursuant to an agreement in expectation of anything of pecuniary value from the opposite party in return. N.Y. PENAL LAW § 125.27 (1)(a)(vi) (McKinney 2013). A person acts intentionally with respect to a result or to conduct described by a statute defining an offense when his conscious objective is to cause such result or to engage in such conduct N.Y. PENAL LAW § 15.05 (McKinney’s 1965) Although intent is a subjective mental state it can still be objectively proven by circumstantial evidence. With legally sufficient evidence the court will weigh the evidence against the circumstance itself and determine whether the decision is against the weight of the evidence. People v. Johnson, 20 A.D.3d 808, 811,812 (3d Dep’t 2003). Pecuniary compensation does not need to solely involve something that
This unrestrictive form of punishment has led to an abuse of power and a gross violation of the individual’s basic human rights. Although political and other global leaders have called for restrictions and an end to solitary confinement, New York State is still a major proponent for the practice. While most states have a “4.4% of incarcerated people in some form of solitary confinement,” New York State has 9% of their prison population in solitary confinement. New York’s rate of Special Housing Unit (SHU), a form of solitary confinement, has increased since 2003 by forty percent (NYS DOCCS, 2015) (Correctional Association of New York, 2015). New York State continues to use this outdated punishment in alarming rates, especially toward those who are marginalized. People of color, especially African Americans and Latinos, have a higher risk of being incarcerated. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) issued a study that suggests racial differences is also an issue in solitary confinement. African Americans are “2.52 times more likely than whites to be put in solitary and Latinos are 1.65 times more like to enter solitary” (Eichelberger,
These measures were taken to ensure public safety but are now posing a problem for our correctional facilities. Overcrowding and budgets are among the problems brought about by these measures. Both the state and federal correctional population throughout the United States have steadily seen significant increases in their population, every year for the past decades. Based on the census found on the Bureau of Justice website, the data collected between June 30th 2000 to December 30th 2005 showed that prisoners held in custody between federal and state prisons increased by 10%. (“Bureau of Justice Statistics”, p.1 -2)
According to the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS), in 2012, Westchester County incarcerated 213 juvenile delinquents (source, Office of Children and Family Services). Historically, New York State (NYS) has bolstered expenditures on the complex prison system. According to the Correctional Association of New York, irrational prison spending has quickly surpassed expenditures geared towards higher education: “Almost fifteen years ago the Correctional Association of New York documented how New York’s governors and politicians had rapidly increased prison funding while cutting funding to higher education” (source, Binghamton Justice Project). Based on this information, senior management team members at Safe-future Halfway House are interested in the educational advancement of our at-risk youth; we will accomplish this by providing educational services and resources. The Safe-future Halfway House can only accommodate 5 clients and one