A federal investigation and a court-appointed monitor have led to a new use-of-force policy for correction officers on Rikers Island. Now, those officers are opting for a different way to protect themselves: chemical agents. NY1's Courtney Gross filed the following report.
Correction officers have a new favorite weapon on Rikers Island. It's called MK-6, a high-intensity pepper spray.
"We have no choice but to continue to use those chemical agents to protect ourselves," said Norman Seabrook, president of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association.
NY1 has learned that the use of chemical agents has dramatically increased on Rikers Island over the past year.
Take a look at statistics on when a correction officer uses force on an inmate but it results in no injury. The use of chemical agents is a substantial part of these numbers, although City Hall could not provide us with specifics. In the past year, this particular category has gone up 31 percent.
Officials at the Correction Department say the use of chemical agents is a good thing and that serious injuries on the island are down. In fact, a spokesman said, "The use of chemical spray is part of a redesigned Use of Force policy that emphasizes using force that is proportional to the threat encountered, and using de-escalation techniques whenever practical.”
The officers' union and advocates see it differently.
"When two inmates are fighting each other or assaulting correction officers, they are so afraid to use physical force to separate people, they are using chemical agents," Seabrook said. "And this is going to cause a problem down the road because if you hit someone with a chemical agent and they have an allergic reaction to it, it could cause the death of an inmate."
"We also heard that there is just an increase in the amount that's used in response to the incident," said Riley Doyle Evans of Brooklyn Defender Services. "So everybody in the unit is basically affected, and that may have something to do with the strength of the chemical or just how much they are using to respond to different things."
There is a directive to instruct correction officers in how to use this chemical spray, but City Hall would not provide it to us, saying it is not a public document.
Perhaps the spray is protecting officers. At a correction officers' graduation ceremony on Friday, the mayor said assaults on staff are heading south. Then, some in the crowd chuckled.