Better make it a school field trip:
"Why violence toward inmates at NYC’s Rikers Island jail grew" by Michael Schwirtz and Michael Winerip | New York Times August 14, 2014
NEW YORK — The portrait emerging last week from the report on Rikers Island by the US attorney’s office in Manhattan is of a place with almost medieval levels of violence, meted out with startling ferocity by guards and their superiors.
Think of that the next time Obummer is out their waxing about fake fraud hoaxes and such, and tossing about human rights, etc, etc.
The 2½-year investigation, which focused on the abuse of teenage inmates by correction staff, was exhaustive in cataloging the brutality.
I thought that was something important.
But a critical question that went unaddressed is how conditions were allowed to get to this point.
Yeah, the government and mouthpiece media that pushed the agenda of tyranny and war upon us doesn't know how this happened? The government that sanctioned torture hasn't a clue.
Rikers has been a place of violent excess for decades. And the growing ranks of inmates with mental illnesses, reaching nearly 40 percent of the jail population today, have added to the challenges for correction officials.
Related: Not Over Troubled Bridgewater
That's been locked in isolation for a while now.
But conditions worsened substantially under the administration of mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, which reduced jail staff and failed to curb escalating violence by guards, say former correction officials, inmates’ advocates, and others familiar with the jail.
What? The great bipartisan, loving mayor who funds all sorts of causes and is so pro-gun control and put so many people out in the streets?
“There was very little interest in expending political capital and financial capital on the jails,” said Martin F. Horn, who was correction commissioner during Bloomberg’s first two terms.
What an a$$hole!
As mayor, Bloomberg earned a reputation for being a consummate manager who leveraged his private sector experience to tackle municipal problems. But he never made Rikers a high priority, though conditions were deteriorating drastically, say people familiar with the jail’s problems.
In Bloomberg’s last term, the use of force by officers on inmates jumped by 90 percent, according to Correction Department data. Inmates’ advocates and public officials charged with overseeing the jails said they pleaded with the administration to address the issue.
“We met with the Department of Correction and the Bloomberg administration about the prevalence of violence directed by correctional staff towards prisoners, and they didn’t respond,” said Dr. Robert Cohen, a member of the New York City Board of Correction, a watchdog agency.
But they sure are quick to get out to Missouri, huh!!??
Early on, the Bloomberg administration cut more than 3,000 correctional positions. While some of the cuts were attributable to the declining inmate population and the closing of facilities, Horn said the reductions eventually went too far.
Did they open them back up for the illegal immigrant kids who have once again disappeared from my paper?
When even more were proposed in 2008, he sent a letter to the city’s budget office, warning that further reductions would be “impossible without compromising the safety of everybody in the jail.”
For the remaining officers, mandatory overtime became the norm. Exhausted guards were increasingly prone to lashing out at inmates, said officers and oversight officials.
Umm, I'm really NO LONGER INTERESTED in EXCUSES when it is AUTHORITY that CREATED the PROBLEM to BEGIN WITH!
More recently, in Bloomberg’s third term, the Correction Department greatly reduced the number of officers responsible for escorting mentally ill inmates to therapy, meaning that many were locked in solitary confinement 23 hours a day and rarely got out for services.
That.... IS TORTURE!! Right here in AmeriKa itself!
Not Gitmo, not Bagram, not Abu Ghraib. RIGHT HERE on THESE SHORES!
Where is that PIOUS PRESIDENT?!!!
Resentment and anger among inmates built up, said a senior Health Department official, leading to more attacks on guards by inmates.
Oh, right, now it is the poor thin blue line that protects privilege under attack. Nice spin.
A mental health task force, created by the Bloomberg administration in 2011, produced few results and lacked participation by key city officials, including Raymond W. Kelly, who was the police commissioner.
I always thought Kelly was a sphincter.
Stu Loeser, a former press secretary who is again a spokesman for Bloomberg, challenged claims that as mayor Bloomberg was indifferent to conditions at Rikers. Loeser pointed out that at City Hall the mayor sat a few feet from Linda I. Gibbs, the deputy mayor who oversaw the Correction Department, and conferred with her “throughout the day, almost every day.”
What, hello and goodbye?
The current crisis at Rikers stems in part from aggressive efforts to end the chaos and bloodshed that plagued its jails in the 1980s and 1990s.
By making it worse and adding to it?
At the time, the average daily population was around 20,000, almost twice its current level. Gangs like the Netas and the Latin Kings battled one another, as well as the guards. The chief problem then was inmate violence. Slashings and stabbings were routine. A thriving trade in drugs and weapons went virtually unchecked by a demoralized staff.
And how many of that staff were corrupt and helping get things in, because that is the only way they can.
Today, violence is once again surging, but now it is the guards who are perceived to be at the heart of the problem.
Not in AmeriKa, no way! Our loving security services wouldn't do that!
Bernard B. Kerik — he helped oversee Rikers from 1995 to 2000, first as the top deputy at the Correction Department and then as commissioner — is credited with bringing inmate violence under control. A beefed-up SWAT team was equipped with clubs, pepper spray, and electrified stun shields. A data system similar to the Police Department’s Compstat was created to identify the jail’s trouble spots.
Related: 9/11 Thug Bernard Kerik Released From Prison
He also played Rambo when he was in Iraq, mo$tly forgotten now. Too bad a "terrorist" didn't behead him when he was there.
In 1999, there were fewer than 100 stabbings by inmates, compared with 1,100 five years earlier.
But even as conditions improved, advocates warned that allowing guards to rely so heavily on force could get out of hand.
“Whenever you impose a system of restraint on this scale, it can easily be abused,” Jonathan S. Chasan, a lawyer for the Legal Aid Society, told The New York Times in 1999.
He told that to the Times when?
It's been OVER 15 YEARS that this problem was known and NO ONE in GOVERNMENT did a DAMN THING?
The frequency of officers’ using force on inmates remained steady during Kerik’s tenure under Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and declined during Bloomberg’s first term, reaching its lowest point in 2004, according to department data. But then it spiked.
How did you know those buildings were going to collapse contrary to all the laws of physics, Rudy, and why did you destroy a crime scene by shipping the steel off to China?
In 2004, the department documented 961 altercations with inmates involving force. In 2013, with the ranks of inmates with mental illnesses on the upswing, there were 3,285. In the first six months of 2014, use of force was up by a third.
--more--"
At least the cops have been charged with crimes, right?
"In deadly NYC jail beatings, no criminal charges" by Jake Pearson | Associated Press August 21, 2014
NEW YORK — Agitated and hallucinating from alcohol and heroin withdrawal, inmate Angel Ramirez took a swing at a jail guard and missed.
Then this guy deserves to die.
What followed, according to investigative documents obtained by the Associated Press, was a quick punch back from the guard that put Ramirez on the floor. Then he was dragged away, beyond the view of security cameras, and three other guards were called in. Inmates later told investigators they heard screaming and the sickening crack of nightsticks against bone.
Ramirez, 50, died of numerous blunt-impact injuries that included a ruptured spleen, shattered ribs, and a stomach filled with blood. When a jail investigator interviewed the guards — eight months later — they insisted Ramirez was struck only once and only in self-defense.
That July 2011 case is among three deaths in New York City’s jails over the past five years in which inmates were alleged to have been fatally beaten by guards. Yet in none of those cases was anyone ever charged with a crime.
The lack of accountability in the city’s jail system was singled out time and again in a scathing federal review issued this month.
A Correction Department spokesman would not comment directly on Ramirez’s case but stressed that newly appointed Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte believes excessive force is ‘‘absolutely unacceptable and will not be tolerated on his watch.’’
Uh-huh. You gonna get out in front of it and stop it?
Ponte has begun rewriting use-of-force policy, installing more security cameras, and revising the recruitment and training of guards, spokesman Robin Campbell said.
Union leader Norman Seabrook, president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, said that while any officer who illegally uses excessive or improper force should face criminal charges, the rarity of such prosecutions is proof of how frivolous many of the allegations against his members are.
Yeah, there isn't a conspiracy to cover up in government.
--more--"
So who is the next shipment of prisoners?
"Times Square warnings cut into characters’ tips" Associated Press August 14, 2014
NEW YORK — Bright red police leaflets warning Times Square tourists that photos with costumed characters are free, and tipping is optional, are taking a bite out of the bottom line for the many Elmos, Mickey Mouses, SpongeBobs, and Statues of Liberty who dress up to help make ends meet.
The blitz kicked off over the weekend, with officers handing out fliers in five languages.
That is what happens when you are a sanctuary city.
City officials say they had to take action after physical attacks on some visitors, including children.
Tip or else, huh?
The unruliness peaked last month when a Spider-Man was accused of punching a police officer for telling a woman the character could not force her to pay up.
Some of the mostly Spanish-speaking immigrants who wear the giant costumes say they have been left with far less to feed their families.
Standing 7 feet tall and swathed in light green robes with an American flag pouring down her right arm, Lady Liberty — as played by Hugo Gomez, a 34-year-old Dominican immigrant with three children — has a prime spot in the middle of Times Square.
He leaned down to whisper to a reporter that before the police-enforced measure, he drew about $150 in tips each day. In recent days, he made about $40.
New York police don't have bigger crimes or problems to solve, huh?
--more--"
So what is next in that stinking city, death squads?
I'm sure Bill can just buy them off if things go wrong.
Related: Louisiana Getting Rid of Good Old Boy Cops
Little too late, isn't it?
Send 'em up to New York City, I guess. They should fit right in.
NEXT DAY UPDATES:
"N.Y. public advocate shows police body cameras" Associated Press August 22, 2014
NEW YORK — Compelled by video of a police chokehold death and the lack of such evidence in the fatal shooting of a Missouri teenager, a top New York City official Thursday intensified her push to equip the city’s 35,000 officers with body-worn cameras.
Public Advocate Letitia James held a demonstration of the cameras, which she said would protect residents from misconduct and police officers from false allegations, all while saving the city millions of dollars in legal costs.
‘‘This simple tool will go a long way in improving police-community relations in New York City,’’ James said, holding up a camera that records up to 45 hours of audio and video.
James proposed a camera pilot program earlier this month in the aftermath of Eric Garner’s chokehold death on Staten Island on July 17 and Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri, on Aug. 9.
The pilot program would cost about $5 million and outfit about 15 percent of the force — primarily officers in areas with high rates of crime and misconduct complaints, James said.
Introducing the cameras, which sell for $450 to $900 each, in the department would cost about $32 million, she said.
That’s a far cry from the city’s spending on misconduct-related litigation. Last year alone those judgments and settlements cost city taxpayers $152 million, James said.
‘‘It’s a win-win for both the police and the community,’’ she said.
James said Police Commissioner William Bratton has supported the use of body cameras in the past. Mayor Bill de Blasio is reviewing the program proposal, James said.
Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association police union, has said he wants to see evidence of the cameras’ effectiveness.
He said the city spends so much on legal costs because it ‘‘refuses to fight even the most ridiculous and baseless of the claims.’’
--more--"
Also see:
"Al Roker didn’t have this honor in his forecast. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio surprised the ‘‘Today’’ show weatherman on his 60th birthday Wednesday and declared it Al Roker Appreciation Day across the city. De Blasio presented Roker with a mayoral proclamation featuring a photograph of the home where Roker grew up in St. Albans, Queens. The NBC morning show aired a retrospective on Roker’s life and career and had other surprises planned to mark the start of his seventh decade."
That's all politicians are now. They are public relations servants placed in front of cameras to do their ma$ter's biddings and give us a show. Why waste anymore time on them?
And that other big guy choked to death for illegal cigarette sales? Bill?
