NYC NOW - July 9, 2024: Midday News

Episode Date: July 9, 2024

A 55-year-old Bronx man, Chad Irish, is in custody and charged with concealment of a corpse in connection with the death of Yazmeen Williams, 31, found wrapped in a sleeping bag outside a Manhattan building on Friday. The NYPD says tips and surveillance video aided their investigation. In other news, New York City's sanitation department is introducing wheelie bins to clear the mountains of garbage bags on sidewalks. Mayor Adams says the change aligns New York with many other cities in other countries. Meanwhile, all federal funding is finally in place for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River after officials signed off on the final share of the cost for the so-called Gateway Program. Finally, a critical court hearing Tuesday afternoon will determine whether control of Rikers Island jails should be transferred from the city of New York to the federal government. WNYC’s Michael Hill speaks with public safety reporter Matt Katz, who has been following the case.

Welcome to NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Tuesday, July 9th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. The NYPD says a Bronx man has been arrested and the death of a woman found wrapped in a sleeping bag Friday in Manhattan. 55-year-old Chad Irish had been charged with concealment of a corpse. Police say they found the...

body of 31-year-old Yasmin Williams near 27th Street and 3rd Avenue outside a residential building. That's after getting a call about a suspicious package. The NYPD says tipsters and surveillance video help their investigation. Irish has not been to court to learn his charges just yet. Information for his attorney was not immediately available. New York City Sanitation Department has a new tool to clear the mountains of garbage bags that pile up on sidewalks, wheelie bins. Mayor Adams says the change puts New York in line with many other cities. When I go abroad and when I visit other countries, they are blown away that we still use plastic bags. Starting November 12, residential landlords of buildings with fewer than 10 units

will have to put their trash in bins with secured lids. And starting in 2026, those property owners will have to buy an official NYC bin for their garbage. They fit it with wheels, that can speed up trash collection across the five barrels. Buildings that don't comply will face fines starting at $50. All of the federal funding is finally in place for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River. The so-called gateway program, and federal officials yesterday came to Manhattan to sign off on the final share of the cost. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie shut down a previous version of the project called the Arc Tunnel more than a decade ago. But Senator Chuck Schumer says nothing can stop the project.

now. The light at the end of the gateway tunnel is signed, sealed, and delivered. The work will also include the rehabilitation of a pair of century-old tubes beneath the river that were damaged during Hurricane Sandy. Officials expect the new tunnel to open in 2035. 86 and partly sunny. Now, hot and humid once again today, really hot today. Partly sunny in 92, but the real feel 99. 103 for the real field in Newark. Tomorrow, hot once again. Stay close. There's more after the break. A critical court hearing is coming up this afternoon

on whether control of the Rikers Island jail should be taken away from the city of New York. WNYC's Matt Katz joins us now to discuss the possible federal takeover of the Department of Correction. Matt, you've reported for years on the problems at Rikers Island, the deaths, the drugs use. And there has been federal intervention through the years to stop this. Where do things stand now in terms of the feds getting involved?

Yeah, the background here is that a dozen years ago. There was this big lawsuit involving defense attorneys for people at Rikers and federal prosecutors. And they were trying to address the rampant violence by detainees. And what they described as unconstitutional, unnecessary excessive use of force by correction officers. And the result at the time, was the appointment of this federal monitoring team, which works full-time and they've cost taxpayers upwards of $21 million. But by pretty much every indicator used by the court at the time, the situation at Rikers has not only not improved, but it's worse, many times over when it comes to self-harm, slashings, fights, assaults on officers. And the monitoring team wrote to the federal judge on this case just last month to say that Rikers' jails were.

dangerous. They're characterized by pervasive, imminent risk of harm to both people in custody and to staff. They said that the risk of harm is caused by just widespread dysfunction in the jail's management and that these failures, quote, perpetuate a toxic culture and a system in which none of the component parts work well or together. So that's a pretty damning assessment. But, you know, I've been covering Rikers for several years and that's been more or less what the monitor has said throughout that things keep getting worse. So that means that the federal monitor has not been able to turn things around. Then what's next? What else can be done? Yeah, that's exactly what today's hearing is about. The Legal Aid Society,

which represents detainees and the U.S. Attorney's Office, which represents the federal government, of course. They're asking this judge, a federal court judge, to hold the city in contempt and appoint a federal receiver to run the jails. Now, this is someone who ostensibly, with have a lot more power than the current monitor. Through the years, the city has been able to withstand the repeated tongue lashings from the monitor and judge on the case. But a receiver, that person would actually supplant the power of the mayor's appointed correction commissioner and make decisions about staffing, contracts, work rules, everything governing the operation of Riker's Jells. Obviously, the Adams administration is very opposed to this, and they'll be making some of those arguments in court today.

What is the city's defense, man? Why does the Adams administration say they can probably manage these jails when the reality seems to be the opposite? Much of their argument rests in the fact that they have a relatively new correction commissioner, Linnell McGinley Liddy, who came in about seven months ago and replaced the last correction commissioner, Louis Molina, who had been accused by the monitor of thumbing his nose of the recommendations from the monitor or the court orders. The head monitor here said that Molina had been hiding information, just violating both the spirit and the letter of the whole process. The new commissioner, McGinley Liddy, on the other hand, has been far more cooperative, the monitor says, and the city is really leaning on her and saying, we have someone who's committed to working with the monitor and make things better. The city has pointed to recent stats showing certain trends at Rikers are improving by at least one measure, deaths, which we've reported on extensively. their has been improvement. So far this year, just three detainees have died while incarcerated or shortly after being released from the jails. And that compares to 28 in the prior two years.

Man, in addition to the number of deaths in custody, what else do we know about the current conditions at Rikers? I was going through recent monitor findings yesterday. And there's one snapshot from one week last September, just one week that showed there were 145 uses of force. by officers, a dozen stabbing, 48 detainees who engaged in self-harm, 15 fires, and 34 assaults on staff. And the monitor isn't even sure that all of those incidents were properly reported.

So that kind of is a snapshot of the current conditions, at least from the prior fall. The monitor says the reason for all of these problems is extensive. I mean, cell doors not routinely secured or left open. There's staffing management problems, so security posts lack officers. Officers fail to tour the facilities properly.

And then the monitor says investigations of officers who commit violence just slog on for more than a year and don't result in any proper discipline. Matt, you've touched on this slightly. But what would a federal receiver do that the monitor or commissioner could not? Yeah. Federal prosecutors of defense attorneys who were pushing for this receiver, they say the monitor was, was there to help ensure that the court's orders about reducing violence and use of force were followed, and they haven't been. And that's why a federal receiver would come in and actually have power. They could actually make the decisions. It wouldn't be recommendations. And they could primarily,

according to people who are pushing this, eliminate some of the work rules that have been won by the powerful correction officers' unions through the years. So that means giving certain officers' abilities to choose which jail they work in and what kind of job they do there. It means over 700 officers are doing what are considered civilian rules. So maybe they'd be deployed elsewhere where they're really needed, where there's a lack of officers. And it means that punishment of abusive officers, according to the monitor, would be dealt with more appropriately. So a receiver could have this power to wipe away these official and unofficial rules, theoretically at least, because he or she wouldn't be beholden to some of the municipal and law enforcement unions

who have political power in the city. That's right. Matt Katz, he'll be paying attention to this hearing taking place this afternoon and a potential takeover of Rikers Island by a federal receiver. Matt, thank you so much. Hey, thanks, Michael. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WMYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day,

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