A Manhattan federal judge in a long-running lawsuit against the city’s beleaguered Department of Correction ruled Wednesday that a third-party “receiver” be appointed to oversee use-of-force and safety issues in the city’s jails.
Laura Taylor Swain, chief district judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, cited nine years of failed promises by jail officials in her 65-page decision.
“The glacial pace of reform can be explained by an unfortunate cycle demonstrated by DOC leadership, which has changed materially a number of times over the life of the Court’s orders, wherein initiatives are created, changed in some material way or abandoned, and then restarted,” she wrote.
She ruled that fining the city or taking other measures to force reforms would not be enough.
“The Court is inclined to impose a receivership: namely, a remedy that will make the management of the use of force and safety aspects of the Rikers Island jails ultimately answerable directly to the court,” she said.
Mayor Eric Adams and his jail officials have strenuously opposed the push for a possible receivership takeover.
They’ve cited a decrease in custody deaths and some other improvements since Lynelle Maginley-Liddie was appointed commissioner in December 2023.
But Swain said the positive steps aren’t nearly enough.
“The record in this case makes clear that those who live and work in the jails on Rikers Island are faced with grave and immediate threats of danger, as well as actual harm, on a daily basis as a direct result of Defendants’ lack of diligence,” she ruled.
Swain wants to get both sides to agree on how much power the receiver will have and who that person will be, according to the decision.
The Legal Aid Society, which brought the original “Nunez case” in 2011, and city and federal lawyers must hash out how the receiver would work, she added.
That includes deciding whether the receiver “would supplant or work alongside the DOC commissioner.”
All sides also must flesh out how long the receiver should remain in power and the qualifications for that person, according to Swain’s decision.
The parties must file a status report detailing “proposed framework for a receivership” by Jan. 14, she ruled.
Legal experts say a receiver can be granted extraordinary powers and would technically not be required to follow union contracts — meaning everything from job protections to work hours could be on the line across the correction department.
The push for a receiver is also supported by Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, Damian Williams. The Nunez case, named after the defendant, was first filed by his office under predecessor Preet Bharara.
