Young adult prisoners will be grouped together at the Rikers Island facility in an effort to curb violence and encourage rehabilitation. NY1's Dean Meminger filed this report.
Advocates have long charged that the city's treatment of younger inmates at Rikers Island was counter productive, making the jail more violent and doing little to steer those inmates away from crime. The reforms being announced will make sweeping changes to how inmates from 18 to 21 years old will be housed and treated.
"For young people when they are occupied with constructive programming during the course of the incarceration at Rikers they are far more like to become rehabilitated during their stay there," says Donna Lieberman of the NYCLU.
About a third of that young adult group are reportedly gang members and cause about a third of all of the violence on Rikers Island which has roughly 10,000 inmates.
Under the changes, more than a 1,000 of the younger inmates will be housed away from the adult population. When those inmates act up, they will no longer be sent to solitary confinement, but get recreational time taken away and therapeutic treatment. They will be encouraged to take educational and occupational classes.
Stanley Richards is a member of the Board of Correction which oversees Rikers Island. He thinks the Correction Department plan can work.
"I do think it is about providing opportunities for them to better their life, better their chances of never coming back to jail and prison. And here's what we know: we know that education makes a difference for people," Richards says.
On Tuesday morning, at the Board of Correction public meeting the city will outline it's complete plan for dealing with the young adult population.
There's sure to be questions about reducing violence between inmates, but also about violent correction officers. On Friday, the Bronx district attorney announced he indicted two of the officers, one a captain, for allegedly beating an 18-year-old prisoner and lying about what happened. They're expected to be back on court next month. If convicted, the correction officers could face up to four years behind bars.