NYC DOC has to pay $200K to detainees who missed medical visits: judge
New York City will have to pay out $200,000 in fines to people who missed medical appointments while locked up in city jails after a Bronx court found the Department of Correction failed to provide them with timely treatment, the Legal Aid Society said Wednesday.
The ruling, handed down by Bronx Supreme Court Judge Elizabeth Taylor on Tuesday, requires the DOC to pay a $100 penalty for each medical appointment that was missed between December 2021 and January 2022, court records show.
The fines, which amount to nearly $200,000, will be divvied up between “hundreds” of detainees who weren’t brought to their doctor’s appointments during that time frame, the Legal Aid Society said.
“The Department of Correction has continuously and egregiously failed to fulfill its lawful and moral obligation to provide access to needed medical appointments for people incarcerated in New York City jails — a failure that has led to undue suffering and death,” Legal Aid said in a statement celebrating the ruling.
“[Tuesday’s] court order is one critical step towards holding the City accountable for its unwillingness to ensure the health and safety of people incarcerated in its jails. We hope this ordered compensation provides some relief to people denied the care they desperately need, but we know that much more must be done.”
Legal Aid sued the DOC in Bronx Supreme Court last fall, claiming it failed to provide detainees with adequate and timely medical care amid an ongoing crisis at the agency, which has seen 27 deaths in-custody since January 2021.
In December, the court sided with the plaintiffs and issued an emergency order mandating the DOC reduce the number of missed or delayed appointments and ensure there’s enough staff to bring patients to and from visits.
The court also required the department to ensure incarcerated people had the ability to make appointments five days a week and within 24 hours of a request.
In late January, the DOC admitted in court records it was failing to abide by the mandates, and submitted internal records that showed detainees weren’t brought to doctors visits 7,070 times after the order was issued.
The records showed the number of missed appointments was higher than in both October and November 2021 — prior to the judge’s order.
“In my opinion, I believe this rate of production does not constitute substantial compliance with the pertinent directives to provide timely access to the clinics,” DOC Bureau Chief of Facility Operations Ada Pressley wrote in a Jan. 26 affidavit.
In February, an additional 8,402 medical appointments were missed, a 24% increase from January, which saw 6,792 missed visits, data show.
That month, Legal Aid filed a motion asking Taylor to hold DOC in contempt for continuously failing to abide by the order and in May, the justice granted the motion, finding the agency had abdicated its responsibility to get its charges healthcare.
“While [the DOC] has demonstrated that it is committed to providing inmates with access to clinic appointments, it did not meet its heavy burden, on this record, to demonstrate that it substantially complied with the… order to provide petitioners with access to sick call,” Taylor wrote in the Tuesday ruling.
In addition to the fines, the city will also have to pay out attorneys fees, Taylor said.
When asked if the city will appeal the ruling, a spokesperson for the city Law Department said they are “reviewing the order and considering next steps.”
