Manhattan Metropolis Councilmember Gale Brewer is drafting laws to drive public monitoring of complaints from Rikers Island made via town’s 311 system, aiming to deliver transparency and accountability to a largely opaque course of.
The proposal follows reporting by THE CITY that discovered tens of 1000’s of jail-related calls to 311 every year usually are not publicly logged or clearly resolved. That has left detainees and their households with little perception into whether or not their complaints are addressed.
“The calls go right into a black gap,” Brewer, who chairs the Council’s Committee on Governmental Operations, instructed THE CITY.
Final 12 months, 40,483 complaints had been logged to town’s 311 hotline in regards to the troubled jail system, in keeping with metropolis information.
However lots of the calls had been ignored and it’s inconceivable to know once they had been formally if or when the complaints — typically about missed medical visits, excessive warmth or chilly, or mildew — had been addressed , in keeping with advocates, detainees, and their family members.
A 311 name and a Rikers hanging loss of life
In a single 2025 incident, Rikers detainee Benjamin Kelly’s mom dialed 311 to report her son was hallucinating and clearly on the unsuitable treatment. Two weeks later, a metropolis correction officer discovered Kelly, 36, hanging from a bedsheet in his cell.
The town’s 311 system, launched beneath Mayor Michael Bloomberg, was designed as a centralized, high-tech manner for New Yorkers to report issues, from potholes to noise complaints, and monitor how companies reply.
However complaints about circumstances contained in the jails don’t observe that mannequin.
Not like customary 311 “service requests,” that are logged publicly, routed to companies and marked resolved, jail-related complaints typically disappear from public view.
As an alternative, they’re categorized as “buyer feedback” and despatched to the Division of Correction via an inner on-line type directed to the commissioner’s workplace.
Detainees and their households say that system leaves them at the hours of darkness, with requires assist often going unanswered.
The proposed laws would doubtless take a number of months to draft, in keeping with Brewer, after which would face hearings earlier than a full council vote. That course of usually takes no less than a 12 months.
Brewer expects broad help within the Council and from the mayor.
“It doesn’t appear controversial,” she stated.
The Rikers 311 invoice might be based mostly on an analogous hashish reporting measure she launched in 2024, Brewer stated. That regulation established “a selected 311 criticism class for unlicensed hashish retailers.” It enabled New Yorkers to report unlawful retailers through telephone, app, or web site, with grievances despatched to the New York Metropolis Sheriff’s Workplace.
“It would have the identical wording,” Brewer instructed THE CITY. “We may complain to the division however we’ve additionally bought to do one thing about it.”
