De Blasio mum on waiting months to act after feds cited ‘systemic’ problems at Rikers
Mayor Bill de Blasio insisted Wednesday that his administration has “constantly” addressed dysfunction on Rikers Island — despite waiting four months after a federal monitor found “systemic and deep-seated” problems in the city jail system to announce “emergency” measures.
Asked by The Post why he waited until September — after the scathing May report raised alarms about conditions in the Big Apple’s lockups — de Blasio evaded the question, attempting to downplay the troubling, chaotic situation that had unfolded under his watch.
“The monitor throughout the years has issued both warnings about problems and very clear praise of a lot of the reforms that have been made,” he said during a Wednesday morning press briefing.
“We’ve constantly been addressing the situations in Rikers, but they are extremely challenging, made much worse by COVID.”
In addition to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, he ascribed partial blame on the 85-year-old jail complex — slated to close by 2027 and be replaced by four smaller jails in four of the five boroughs — for the recent deaths and mayhem there.
“You put them together and it’s been extremely difficult,” he said. “But we have constantly made changes to try and address the issue.”
De Blasio also refused to take responsibility for the eight deaths that have occurred at Rikers since the report — which documented poor facility leadership and “dysfunctional” staffing — was released on May 11.
“The facts, as I understand them, are different,” he said vaguely. “Every single person who passes away for any reason is a tragedy.”
“It is painful, it is awful when we lose anyone. Some people it was suicide, some people from everything we understand, natural causes,” he rambled on. “It’s not just one thing.”
The second-term, lame-duck mayor went on to assign partial responsibility to his predecessors, claiming the problems at the beleaguered jail complex are “beyond short-term fixes” he is able to put in place.
“Unfortunately, every year … my administration, previous administrations — because we’re talking about a community of people who often come into Rikers with profound health problems — we lose people every year, and every single time it’s a tragedy,” he said. “But the way I look at it is this: whenever there’s been something we could do, we’ve tried to do it to fix the situation on Rikers Island. But it is beyond short-term fixes.”
He added, “It is a horrible situation, but it’s been a horrible situation over the last eight years and for decades before that.”
Twelve people in custody at city jails have died in 2021, including 11 who were detained at Rikers.
The recent deaths at the understaffed, out-of-control facilities have led several politicians to call for immediate fixes to the crisis — and for the mayor to observe the conditions at the jail complex with his own eyes.
On Sept. 9, the head of the city’s jails acknowledged “serious problems” on Rikers Island.
In response to the escalating crisis, de Blasio on Sept. 14 announced he is enacting “very intense changes” to the jails and troubled Department of Correction — including punishing chronically absent officers and adding 100 NYPD officers to state courts so more correction officers are available to staff the city’s lockups.
But that came about four months after federal monitor Steve Martin’s report found an “extraordinarily large number” of employees who are out on leave, as well as “abnormally high absenteeism.”
On Monday, the mayor toured Rikers, but did not speak to any inmates or rank-and-file correction officers during his 90-minute visit. He claimed Tuesday that he already knows about Rikers’ long-standing problems, so he didn’t need to be “reminded” of something of which he is “already” aware.
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy
