The stressful situations seem to be getting worse at Rikers Island, with incarcerated people attacking corrections officers more often, as well as one incident where a nurse was attacked.
The executive director of the Independent Commission on New York Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform, Zachary Katznelson, says one answer is to stop sending inmates there to begin with.
According to Katznelson, there are 5,600 people in jails throughout NYC, but 5,000 are in Rikers and it’s too crowded and understaffed.
Data shows 1,600 people have been waiting for over a year for their trial, and 700 have been waiting for two years.
Katznelson tells Spectrum News that New York has constitutionally speedy trials, which isn’t happening.
He suggests funding courts to hire more judges for backed up cases.
He also says the Less is More act should be implemented sooner than March 2022.
On the other side of things, Mike Powers, head of the New York State Correctional Officers Police Benevolent Association, feels that the change in policies are making it so incarcerated people get away with more and have less consequences.
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