A report containing data about violence at Rikers Island compiled by a court-appointed monitor should be released to the public, two city members of Congress said Thursday.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, joined Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and a third Congress member, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), in a letter sent Thursday to City Hall demanding the release of the data when it is ready in February.
City lawyers agreed with the monitor, Steve J. Martin, that Martin’s report due would not be disclosed to the public, the Daily News first reported. Martin argued the public and the press would “misinterpret” the data.
Manhattan federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed off on the move.
“We write with deep concern about the agreement between the Rikers federal monitor team and the New York City Law Department to keep secret important data regarding the ongoing humanitarian crisis at Rikers,” the members of Congress wrote in the letter.
“By shielding from public view highly relevant information about violence, mismanagement, chronic staffing issues, (and) security lapses … contributing to unsafe and inhumane conditions at Rikers, the agreement will deprive stakeholders of valuable and timely information about the true state of affairs at Rikers.”
In the letter, the reps ask Deanna Logan, director of the city’s Office of Criminal Justice, to withdraw any city opposition to release of the data.
In a letter filed with Swain in November, the Legal Aid Society argued for public release of the data, nothing that nearly all other statistical reports filed by the monitor have been publicly disclosed.
“(The city) asserted no privilege or privacy interests, nor could they,” Legal Aid lawyer Mary Lynne Werlwas wrote. “Information on the emergency situation in the jails cannot be delayed,” she wrote in November.
In its own Nov. 14 letter, city lawyer Kimberly Joyce argued, “Providing raw data without the appropriate context would not represent a comprehensive assessment of the City’s progress,” the Law Department said in a statement. “
Maloney, Ocasio-Cortez and Raskin also demanded that the city provide to their committee a range of data for 2022, including use of force stats, fatal and attempted suicides, overdoses, staffing figures, discipline cases and length of custody.
They note pointedly that the oversight committee of Congress retains the right to investigate any matter at any time.
A city Law Department spokesman said “Congress’ letter is under review.”
The city contends that Martin’s bi-annual compliance reports “contain raw data which should be viewed in context,” the spokesman said, adding that the reports “have always been confidential” and shared only between the monitor, his team, and the parties in the case.
Martin was appointed monitor as part of a 2015 consent decree aimed at reducing excessive force by Rikers staff and violence between detainees.
