Amid Chaos at Rikers, Women and Transgender People to Be Transferred
The New York Times
The move, meant to free staff to restore order at the notorious jail system, raises questions about the detainees’ access to their lawyers and families.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday announced that women and transgender people held at the Rikers Island jail complex will be transferred to two state prisons 40 miles north of New York City, in the latest effort to stem a crisis that has engulfed the correction system.
The move, which begins Monday, is intended to address an ongoing staffing shortage — roughly one in three jailers are not showing for work — by allowing the city to post guards from the women’s units in other, more chaotic parts of the complex.
It comes as pressure builds on state and federal officials to step in as the city struggles to restore order in Rikers, its largest jail compound, which has fallen into a state of danger and despair.
