A federal judge overseeing New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex on Wednesday found the city in contempt for failing to stem violence and excessive force at the facility, and said she was leaning toward taking control of the city’s jails. The judge, Laura Taylor Swain, said in a 65-page opinion that the city and its Department of Correction had violated the constitutional rights of prisoners and staff members alike by exposing them to danger, and had intentionally ignored her orders. Judge Swain’s ruling came nearly a decade after the city’s jails, which include the Rikers Island complex, fell under federal oversight in a settlement of a class-action lawsuit brought by prisoners and the Legal Aid Society. Since then, a court-appointed monitor has issued regular reports on the violence that has continued to plague the facilities. In the past two years, at least 33 people have died in the jails or shortly after being released.

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Persons: Laura Taylor Swain, ”, Jan, Judge Swain’s Organizations: New York, Correction, Legal Aid Society