DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Adams Blocks Law That Bans Solitary Confinement in New York Jails
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-28 | by ( Chelsia Rose Marcius | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Mayor Eric Adams declared a state of emergency in New York City jails on Saturday and issued an executive order that blocked key parts of a local law that would have banned solitary confinement in the jails. The order, one of three Mr. Adams issued on Saturday that pertained to the jails, was an unusual step that came only one day before the law was set to go into effect. After Mr. Adams vetoed the bill in January, arguing that it would make jail staff and detainees less safe, the Council issued a rare override of his veto. The law would have banned solitary confinement for detainees who were accused of breaking jail rules, beyond a four-hour “de-escalation period” during an emergency. It would also have banned the use of handcuffs or shackles to restrain detainees riding in Correction Department vehicles.

Persons: Eric Adams, Adams, Amaris Organizations: City Council, Department, Correction, Hall Locations: New York City

For instance, the U.S. has blocked shipments of cotton coming from China, a top manufacturer of popular clothing brands, because it was produced by forced or prison labor. While prison labor seeps into the supply chains of some companies through third-party suppliers without them knowing, others buy direct. Cargill acknowledged buying goods from prison farms in Tennessee, Arkansas and Ohio, saying they constituted only a small fraction of the company’s overall volume. For instance, about a dozen state prison farms, including operations in Texas, Virginia, Kentucky and Montana, have sold more than $60 million worth of cattle since 2018. “What for?”FOLLOWING THE MONEYThe business of prison labor is so vast and convoluted that tracing the money can be challenging.

Persons: it’s, Willie Ingram, “ They’d, billy clubs, they’d, ”, Ingram, didn’t, they’re, don’t, Andrea Armstrong, Frank Dwayne Ellington, Ellington, Koch, “ It’s, it’s somebody’s, Alishia Powell, Clark, “, Bunge, Louis Dreyfus, Archer Daniels, Cargill, ” McDonald’s, Mills, ” Bunge, Burger, Jermaine Hudson, ” Hudson, Calvin Thomas, Thomas, Ken Pastorick, Pastorick, Jennifer Turner, Faye Jacobs, Jacobs, ’ ” David Farabough, they’ve, Joshua Sbicca, Cliff Johnson, Jimmy Dean, Sara Lee, Tyson, Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey, that’s, ” Ivey, “ They’re, ’ ”, William “ Buck ” Saunders, Hickman’s, Brooke Counts, Counts, John’s, Jack Strain, Tammany Parish, Russell Stover, Curtis Davis, Robert Bumsted, Cody Jackson, Columbia University’s Ira A, Lipman Organizations: Louisiana State Penitentiary, The Associated Press, Walmart, Cargill, U.S, Kroger, Target, Aldi, Corrections, Loyola University New Orleans, Koch Foods, Occupational Safety, Health Administration, Washington, Archer Daniels Midland, Consolidated, AP, Foods, Dairy Farmers of, Big, Sam’s, Tyson Foods, U.S ., Civilian, OSHA, Fair Labor, American Civil Liberties, Colorado State University, MacArthur Justice Center, University of Mississippi, PepsiCo, Brevard County Sheriff, Arizona . Companies, Costco, Correctional, Prisons, Nut, Maine Foods, Taylor Farms, Transitional, Associated Press, Public Welfare Foundation, Columbia, Lipman Center for Journalism, Arnold Ventures Locations: ANGOLA, La, Southern, Louisiana, Texas, In Louisiana, Angola, United States, “, Ashland, U.S, China, Tennessee , Arkansas, Ohio, Dairy Farmers of America, Texas , Virginia, Kentucky, Montana, Baton Rouge, Mississippi, Manhattan, America, Alabama, American, Arkansas , Texas, Florida , Alabama, South Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas, In Alabama, Florida, Brevard County, Arizona, Wisconsin, California, Colorado, state’s St, Tammany, Idaho, In Kansas, Cal, St, Francisville , Louisiana, Feliciana, Investigative@ap.org

Fullerton, Wilson and two other officers were charged in connection with 18-year-old Nicholas Feliciano's suicide attempt at the Rikers Island jail complex on Nov. 27, 2019. Prosecutors said jail guards were seen on surveillance video walking past Feliciano and taking no action for seven minutes and 51 seconds. An investigation report by the city Board of Correction later found that the officers believed Feliciano was faking a suicide attempt. David Rankin, a lawyer for Feliciano's family, said they are “gratified” that the two guards took responsibility in pleading guilty. The Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association has called the officers' indictments politically motivated and called on prosecutors to charge inmates who assault guards.

Persons: Daniel Fullerton, Mark Wilson, Wilson, Nicholas Feliciano's, Feliciano, Prosecutors, Wilson's, David Rankin, Fullerton Organizations: New, Daily News, Fullerton, of, Fullerton . Information, Correction Department, ’ Benevolent Locations: New York City, Rikers, Bronx

☆ New York City Has ‘Tepid’ Plans for Fixing Rikers, Monitor Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-07 | by ( Ed Shanahan | More About Ed Shanahan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

If New York City officials feel any urgency about fixing the persistent problems at the Rikers Island jail complex, they are not showing it, according to a report filed on Monday by the federal official appointed to monitor the lockup. The monitor, Steve J. Martin, writes in the report that the city Correction Department’s most recent efforts toward improving conditions at the Rikers complex have been “haphazard, tepid and insubstantial.”In describing the dysfunction that has come to define the jails, Mr. Martin detailed two episodes that occurred at Rikers in the past several months. One involved a correction officer who stood by as a group of detainees assaulted a man in their unit. The other involved detainees who were pepper sprayed for no reason during an unofficial “hostage drill.”The report’s findings are striking given the increasing possibility that the city could be forced to relinquish at least some control over its jails, which have been troubled for decades and plunged into their latest crisis in March 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic. A hearing on the future stewardship of the jails is scheduled for Wednesday.

Persons: Steve J, Martin Organizations: New York Locations: New York City, Rikers

☆ Once Praised, Jails Chief Draws Ire Over Lack of Transparency on Rikers
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Jan Ransom | More About Jan Ransom | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Last week, the Manhattan U.S. attorney, Damian Williams, called for an outside authority to take control of the jails, saying that “after eight years of trying every tool in the tool kit we cannot wait any longer for substantial progress to materialize.” And the federal judge who appointed the monitor as part of a civil rights case against the jails, Laura Taylor Swain, has recently signaled a deep frustration with the city’s Correction Department. For his part, Mr. Molina and his staff members have touted progress, pointing to department statistics that show a decrease in deaths, as well as in slashings and stabbings. But the creation of the new, tight-lipped investigative group — known as the special investigations unit — and other moves emanating from the commissioner’s office have called into question whether such statements can be trusted, records and interviews show. While there is nothing inherently wrong with a commissioner changing the structure of the units within the department, former correction officials say, the new unit’s refusal to divulge details of one violent incident has hampered the work of the monitor and other watchdog groups. The unit that is now being criticized was created on the same day in April that the federal monitor, Steve J. Martin, filed a report with the court praising the department’s willingness to take steps toward reform.

Persons: Damian Williams, Laura Taylor Swain, Molina, Steve J, Martin Organizations: Manhattan U.S, city’s, Department Locations: slashings

A federal monitor overseeing New York City’s violent and dangerous jails asked a judge on Monday to consider holding the Department of Correction and its commissioner in contempt for disobeying court orders, opening the possibility that officials could be punished for failing to improve conditions. Conditions on Rikers Island have only worsened since the Correction Department developed an improvement plan a year ago, Mr. Martin wrote. Doors are still not properly secured, correction officers continue to abandon posts and detainees often gather in high-security areas, he said. During routine searches, officers miss weapons, which have later been used in violent episodes, Mr. Martin said. Last year, 19 people died in city jails or at hospitals soon after release — the deadliest year in nearly a decade.

Persons: Steve J, Martin Organizations: York, of Correction, Correction Department Locations: Manhattan, Rikers

BOSTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) - The Massachusetts state prison system will reform how it cares for inmates with serious mental health issues and supervise prisoners at risk of harming themselves to resolve a years-long civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Justice Department on Tuesday said the Massachusetts Department of Correction entered into a settlement agreement after investigators concluded conditions at its prisons resulted in inmates on mental health watch dying or injuring themselves. The deal calls for improved policies and training that will result in heightened supervision for inmates, increased out-of-cell contact with mental health staff, and the creation of a new treatment-focused housing unit. "Statistics show that far too many of the incarcerated population suffers from significant mental health and substance use disorders, among other severe things," she said. The Justice Department found that the prison system's mental health or suicide watch involved placing prisoners in "restrictive, isolating, and unnecessarily harsh conditions" for prolonged periods, placing them at risk of harming themselves.

☆ Unearthing the Secrets of New York’s Mass Graves
▼ + stars: | 2016-05-15 | by ( Nina Bernstein | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +51 min

Then, like more than a million men, women and children since 1869, she was consigned to a trench on Hart Island. Citing security, the city’s Correction Department also repeatedly rebuffed The Times’s requests to witness Hart Island burials firsthand. hart island Future plots Future plots Active trench 2000s 1990s Hart Island N.Y.C. He readily remembered the Dickerson case as a financial disappointment, but said he was hearing of his ward’s Hart Island burial for the first time. When she died, Ms. Murray had $6,887 left in her personal account at New Surfside.

Persons: Alon Sicherman, Micah Dickbauer, Leola Dickerson, Zarramen Gooden, Milton Weinstein, Hart, shrouds Hart Island’s, Ruth Proskauer Smith, Arnold, Timothy Daniels, Melinda Hunt, Hunt, Hart Island’s, “, snatchers, New York State’s, Jim Crow, Gwendolyn Burke, Burke, ”, David Minton, Dickerson, We’re, Mango’s, Joseph Dixon, Helen Katz, Johnny Maddox, Constance Dickerson Williams, Grandma Leola, Dickerson’s, Dr, Michael Katz, Ms, Katz, Maddox, Bernice, Thackus Dickerson, sheriff’s, Jay Stuart Dankberg, ” Mr, Dankberg, exposés, —, ” Felice Wechsler, Constance Mirabelli, Mirabelli, John, Jo Ann Douglas, Mirabelli ”, Douglas, Ciro Ferrer, Ferrer, Regla, Nicholas S, Ratush, Ferrer’s, Ilda, Mr, Julie Bolcer, ” Zarramen, Rita Nelson, Malondya, Doris McCrea, Audrey Ponzio, McCrea, Jonathan Mawere, Emmett Pantin, Sgt, Gerard Pantin, ” Sergeant Pantin, Jason Chiaramonte, Hey, Jason, Chiaramonte, ” Ms, Bolcer, McAllister, Hurricane Sandy, Amy Koplow, Einstein, ” Michael Wynston, Weinstein’s, Wynston, Weinstein, Lynda, abusiveness, Michael, wouldn’t, Barry Gainsburg, they’re, Monica Murray, Maureen, Linda, doesn’t, ” Maureen Eastman, St . Lucia, Murray, Eastman, Grandma, Charles, Murray’s, ’, Sheryl Hurst, Rodeph Sholom, Terry Saunders, Lady Thiang, Hurst’s, James Hurst, Hurst, Sally Kaplan, Sheryl, ’ ” Organizations: The New York Times, New York Times, Sears, Roebuck & Company, city’s, Information, New York University School of Medicine, New York, Department, Times, The Times, Columbia College, United, New, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Social, Atlantic City, Army, Queens County, Medicaid, Government, Hygiene Legal Service, Medical, Continental, Care, Hart, ”, Offshore Hospital, Hospital, Rivals, American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service, Queens, Nassau Community College, Bellevue Hospital, Association, Center for Nursing, Rehabilitation, Irish, New Surfside, Facebook, Jewish Locations: Hart, New York City, Long, Alabama, New York, Bronx, . New York, New, Dakota, Manhattan, New York State, Jerusalem, Southern, morgues, Philadelphia , New Haven, United States, Ohio, American, Harlem, Rikers, hart, Pleasantville, N.J, Tuskegee, ”, Milton, New Jersey, Queens, Queens County, Pensacola, Fla, Atlantic, West, St, Cuba, Trench, Elmhurst , Queens, Havana, Elmhurst, Far Rockaway, Brooklyn, Turners Falls, Iraq, Trinidad, Florida, Afghanistan, they’re, Midtown Manhattan, Bellevue, Hurricane, St ., Creedmoor, Arizona, Farmingdale, Jersey, —, California

Search resuls for: "Correction Department"

8 mentions found