NYC NOW - June 14, 2023: Midday News

Episode Date: June 14, 2023

New York's Education Department has issued updated guidance for state schools on supporting and protecting all students, including those who are trans and gender-expansive. Also, classrooms in New York City's juvenile detention centers are being repurposed as cells in an effort to curb violent attacks. Finally, a federal judge has opened the door for a potential federal takeover of Rikers Island jails. As the long-standing dispute over conditions in the city jails reaches a possible turning point, WNYC’s Michael Hill speaks with public safety reporter Matt Katz, who has been updating us on this story.

NYC now. Your source for local news in and around New York City from WNYC. It's Wednesday, June 14th. Here's the midday news from Michael Hill. New York's Education Department has updated guidance to schools across the state on how to support and protect all students, including trans and gender expansive students. Department recommendations include guidance on using preferential. names and pronouns and how to ensure the facilities in curriculum are inclusive and accessible.

The guidance specifies that parental consent is not needed to use a student's preferred name and pronoun and that informing caregivers against the wishes of the student can be harmful. It also lays up what documentation is required to update educational records. Classrooms in New York City's juvenile detention centers are being used as cells as staff struggle to curb violent attacks. W.M.C.'s Bahar Ostadon. Has more. Violence inside the South Bronx and Brownsville facilities has gotten so bad that employees

say they have no choice but to lock kids in classrooms. Teens who are pulled off their residence halls to avoid an attack are held in classrooms sometimes into the night. Violent attacks that resulted in serious injuries doubled last year at the South Bronx attention center, according to a recent federal monitor report. In March, WNYC spoke to current and former employees who blamed a staff smuggling network for bringing drugs, bones, and weapons inside. The Administration for Children's Services says classrooms are just one of the spaces that might be used to separate one detainee from the others. 75 with clouds right now, showers, and possibly a thunderstorm today.

A high of 76. A federal judge has opened the door for a potential federal take. of Rikers Island Jails. With the long dispute over conditions at the city jails, now at a potential crossroads, WNIC Public Safety Reporter, Matt Katz joins us to tell us more about this. You went to a court hearing yesterday that really seemed to have shifted the conversation on Rikers. What happened? Yeah, it certainly did, Michael.

Since last year, defense attorneys have been asking for a takeover of the jails because of the apparent inability of city correction officials to control the violence. and chaos and lack of access to medical care at Rikers. Until yesterday, a federal judge wouldn't even allow the attorneys from the Legal Aid Society to file a motion seeking this takeover. That has now changed. U.S. District Court judge Laura Taylor Swain said yesterday that she will allow arguments to be filed this summer to make the case that a federal official, known as a receiver,

should be appointed to essentially rest complete control of the jails away from the city away from the Adams administration and give it to this federal receiver with power to make all kinds of changes in jail operations. The fact that Judge Swain is allowing these arguments to be made, this represents, I think, a potential turning point in the city jails. Matt, I have to ask, what change? Why did Judge Swain have a change of heart and say she's willing to consider a receivership? It was a series of really damaging legal filings from the federal monitor who currently oversees the jails. to remind you, Michael, there's only a judge involved here because attorneys at the Legal Aid Society first sued over similar, though not as bad as today, violent conditions 13 years ago. That suit ended eight years ago with the appointment of a federal monitor named Steve Martin who oversees the jails and has issued reports about conditions every few months since.

But the reports that Martin issued over the last week or so have been particularly scathing because he said the correction department isn't providing him with accurate information. about what's happening inside Rikers, that it's blowing off promises to make specific reforms, like removing aggressive officers from a special security unit. Martin said that he can't even be sure of the accuracy of the correction department's assertion that only three detainees who were held at Rikers have died this year. Martin described stalemating that he faced

when he asked the city about a detainee who was paralyzed in May after an officer used force and another who was left severely injured. naked and alone, he wrote, ignored by staff after he was beaten by other detainees, and yet another detainee who died of a fractured skull under questionable circumstances. So Judge Swain read these reports from the monitor about the stalemating, called this emergency court hearing yesterday, and said that while receivership would be an extraordinary step, reforms have stalled, and communication with the monitor has broken down, and the judge's confidence in city leaders to, reform Rikers has been, quote, shaken. So the judge is open to the possibility of a federal takeover of Rikers. And Matt, so did she say, what happens now? How would this process of receivership play out? If it happens, it'll take some time. The judge will consider formal

requests for receivership and legal filings this summer. Those requests will come from the legal aid society, but also critically, perhaps from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York. An attorney there indicated in court yesterday that they're also warming to the idea of receivership, which would really strengthen the case for a receiver. Then there'll be another hearing to talk about all of this in August. The argument for receivership is that a receiver would have the power to hire and fire and discipline staff, suspend or scrap contracts, change work rules, but city officials obviously are opposed to the possibility of losing control of this huge department under its control. I'm wondering what the city is thinking. Has

the mayor reacted to the potential loss of one of his most significant departments because of dysfunction? He has at a press conference yesterday. He said the federal prison system isn't that successful. So why would a federal receiver be here? And he said his correction department is finally starting to turn things around. Here he is. And so people who think years of dysfunctionality is going to be fixed because of a receiver,

that's just not making sense to me. I do know this. I know if you compare, our 18 months to the previous eight years, you are seeing a qualitative difference. I'd say it's true that chronic staff absenteeism at the jails have gone down under Mayor Adams' watch, and there are some indicators of violence that are lower this year than the prior years.

But still, the monitor told us in court that every data point, slashing, stabbings, officer use of forests, et cetera, et cetera. All of that is now worse today than when the monitor first came in nearly eight years ago. So remember, he came in because things were so bad that he had to be installed in the first place. So if things are getting a little bit better, there's still far, there's still no progress from when the monitor was first installed. So he's not yet arguing this monitor that he should be replaced by a receiver, but he's

starting to come closer to that viewpoint than before because everyone seems to agree the status quo at Rikers is not tenable. And I should add that in the meantime, the judge is taking some additional steps. She issued a series of quite unusual orders yesterday for things that she indicated should have been obvious, given the fact that this is already a federal case. So she ordered that the city be transparent and prompt in alerting the monitor when someone is seriously injured or dies in custody. And given the individual I mentioned earlier who was left naked and seriously injured for hours. Another court order said that people in custody may not remain unclothed for extended periods of time. Information and transparency are key. WNYC's Metcats paying close attention

to Rikers once again. Matt, thank you. I appreciate it, Michael. Thanks for listening. This is NYC now from WNYC. Be sure to catch us every weekday, three times a day for your top news headlines and occasional deep dives. And subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. More this evening.