By Michele Evans / NYweeklyRecord.com / Date: 10/2/2026
Category: Rikers Island / NYC Department of Correction / Corrections / Accountability
NEW YORK CITY, NY – A federal monitor says New York City’s jail system still cannot reliably perform the basic work needed to keep people in custody and correction staff safe, leaving court-ordered reforms stalled after more than a decade.
The September 30 status report in Nunez v. City of New York says constitutional violations at Rikers Island and the city’s other jails persist and, in some areas, may have worsened. The monitor told the federal court that the Department of Correction has not made significant improvements to the foundation of jail operations.
The report ties those failures to the three most recent deaths in city custody. According to the monitoring team, officers abandoned posts and failed to verify the welfare of people in housing units through required rounds. The same breakdowns also contribute to group disturbances, unnecessary uses of force and the continued presence of drugs and weapons, the report says.
Security problems remain widespread. The monitor found that cell doors are left unsecured, staff absences can go undetected for long periods and searches often fail to stop dangerous contraband. Housing units remain unsafe for incarcerated people and employees.
DOC also cannot reliably identify where all of its staff members are assigned, according to the report. Supervisors are too few, and the quality of supervision is often too weak to move officers toward better practices. A staffing review is underway, but the monitor said substantial work remains before the department can deploy staff efficiently.
The department’s classification system presents another risk. An outside expert validated DOC’s tools for rating a person’s custody level, but the monitor found that minimum-, medium- and maximum-custody units are largely operated the same way. Staffing, movement rules and service delivery often do not change with the risk level.
That makes classification less useful as a violence-prevention tool. The report says DOC continues to place some minimum- and maximum-custody detainees together and has failed at times to honor Keep Separate orders. The monitor said there was no evident urgency in correcting those placements.
Cell and bed assignments are also vulnerable to informal changes. The monitoring team found that unregulated assignments can concentrate members of the same security-risk groups in parts of a housing unit, increasing the risk of intimidation and coordinated violence.
The monitor directed DOC to focus on four fundamentals: stable leadership, accurate staff deployment, dependable security practices and housing operations tied to custody classifications. Broader reform programs cannot work until those foundations are in place, the report says.
The latest findings arrive after U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain appointed a remediation manager with broad authority over jail operations. The court took that step after finding the city in contempt of multiple provisions of the Nunez consent judgment, which was designed to address excessive force and unsafe conditions.
The report also revisited a September dispute over communication inside DOC. A directive that required agency leaders to brief Commissioner Stanley Richards before communicating with the monitor, remediation manager or City Hall was rescinded. The monitor reported improved engagement afterward, but said transparency failures and missed consultation still occurred.
A spokesperson for Mayor Zohran Mamdani told the Queens Daily Eagle that the administration remains committed to working with the monitor and remediation manager and has confidence in Richards. DOC’s measurable response to the monitor’s four priorities will determine whether that commitment changes daily conditions inside the jails.
For people living and working on Rikers, the question is immediate: who is on post, who checks each cell, who controls housing assignments and who is responsible when those basic protections fail. The federal court now has a new warning that, without answers, violence and constitutional violations will continue.
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