{"id":5330,"date":"2014-08-06T17:33:28","date_gmt":"2014-08-07T00:33:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5330"},"modified":"2014-08-06T19:23:06","modified_gmt":"2014-08-07T02:23:06","slug":"u-s-justice-report-rikers-island-staff-routinely-use-excessive-force-inmates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=5330","title":{"rendered":"Scathing U.S. Justice Dept. Report: Rikers Island Jail Staff Routinely Use Excessive Force on Juvenile Inmates"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Department<\/a>NEW YORK<\/strong> – A U.S. Department of Justice report released this week concluded that Rikers Island jail staff routinely use force as a means to control male juvenile inmates and punish disorderly or disrespectful behavior.<\/p>\n

The multi-year investigation looked into the conditions of incarceration \u00a0focusing on constitutional rights, officials said.<\/p>\n

The investigation concentrated on the use of inmate-on-inmate violence along with the \u00a0use of punitive segregation during the period 2011-2013.<\/p>\n

The blistering report concluded that there is a pattern and practice of conduct at Rikers Island that violates the rights of adolescents protected by the Eighth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cAs our investigation has shown, for adolescents, Rikers Island is a broken institution. It is a place where brute force is the first impulse rather than the last resort; where verbal insults are repaid with physical injuries; where beatings are routine while accountability is rare; and where a culture of violence endures even while a code of silence prevails,” \u00a0said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Adding, “The adolescents in Rikers are walled off from the public, but they are not walled off from the Constitution. Indeed most of these young men are pre-trial detainees who are innocent until proven guilty, but whether they are pre-trial or convicted, they are entitled to be detained safely and in accordance with their Constitutional rights \u2013 not consigned to a corrections crucible that seems more inspired by Lord of the Flies than any legitimate philosophy of humane detention.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“These young men, automatically charged as adults despite their age under New York law, may be on an island and out of sight, but they can no longer remain out of mind. Attention must be paid immediately to their rights, their safety and their mental well-being, and in the wake of this report we will make sure that happens one way or another.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In its report to the City of New York, \u00a0the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office notes that \u201ca deep-seated culture of violence is pervasive throughout the adolescent facilities at Rikers, and jail staff routinely utilize force not as a last resort, but instead as a means to control the adolescent population and punish disorderly or disrespectful behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

The following statistics are illustrative:<\/strong><\/p>\n