New York City jails are plagued by “systemic and deep-seated” issues that have created a “pervasive level of disorder and chaos,” according to a new scathing report — released just hours after Department of Correction chief Cynthia Brann called it quits.
The 342-page report, issued Tuesday by the federal monitor overseeing the city jails, says Brann’s resignation will impact the DOC for “many months.”
“There is no question that these transitions will only further disrupt the Department’s work and their ability to focus on or advance the various initiatives required for progress toward the Consent Judgment’s requirements, ” the report says of the shakeup.
The federal monitor, in its eleventh report penned by Steve Martin, points the finger at three issues that have “stymied progress” in city jails: poor facility leadership, “dysfunctional” staffing and staff accountability.
Despite the shot at Brann for her departure, Martin praises her for being transparent, honest and providing “unfettered access” to the monitor and put the blame for the lack of progress on supervisors in the jails.
But the federal filing — which was first reported by The City — also highlighted a number of damning issues that Brann will leave unresolved.
Uses of force by corrections officers spiked to 719 last March, before the COVID-19 pandemic led to a historically low inmate population, and slowly ticked up each month to 648 last December, the report says.
Those figures led to a rate of force up 3 points from 2019 and nearly four times that of 2016.
“In fact … the annual average use of force rate has risen steadily each year since the Consent Judgment went into effect,” the report says.
Brann is also leaving behind a backlog of 1,445 disciplinary cases for her successor to tackle as part of an internal process that the monitor describes as “inherently dysfunctional and ineffective.”
The report criticizes the DOC for its “struggles to manage its large number of Staff productively, to deploy them effectively, to supervise them responsibly, and to elevate the base level of skill of its Staff.”
“All of this has a direct impact on the Department’s ability to reduce the level of violence and ensure the safety and well-being of Staff and incarcerated individuals,” Martin writes.
The DOC is also plagued by the “extraordinarily large number” of employees who are out on leave, as well as “abnormally high absenteeism.”
But the report says, despite the staffers unable to work, it still has an “extraordinarily large” amount of uniformed officers to staff the jails.
On Wednesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed Vincent Schiraldi to replace Brann as interim commissioner. Schiraldi currently works as senior research scientist at Columbia University and serves as the co-director of the school’s Justice Lab.
A new commissioner will be appointed when the new administration is in place in 2022.
