Rikers is a bunch of New York City jails bunched on an island that is plagued with a history of violence so bad it has been documented by the U.S. Justice Department. Mayor Bill de Blasio came up with pre-solitary confinement to curb violence, but critics say his solution is merely a way of circumventing solitary reforms.
Blasio allotted $27.3 million for the creation of what was labeled Enhanced Supervised Housing Unit (ESHU) and rushed it to the Board of Correction to be approved. It was in a 6-2 vote. The mayor appointed three of the board members just three weeks before the vote, according to Raven Rakia of The Nation.
In ESHU, prisoners are allowed seven hours of out-of-cell time, compared to 14 in general population. Each unit has 21 cameras and 50 beds, plus a higher staff-to-inmate ratio. ESHU has 250 cells.
Critics argue that ESHU undermines the new solitary confinement reforms. For example, while you can only be held in solitary 30 days with a mandatory seven-day break, you can be housed in ESHU indefinitely. Those who are mentally ill or under 18 are banned from solitary.
However, according to an April ESHU report, 59 percent of the people housed in ESH unit had a mental-illness diagnosis, according to Rakia.
In 1990, 1,552 slashings occurred on the island, according to a story in The Nation written by Rakia called Rikers Is Reforming Solitary Confinement — with Solitary Confinement?
In 2011, the number of slashings went down to 35 but rose to 90 in 2014. Meanwhile, assaults on staff jumped 50 percent with guard-on-inmate use-of-force raised to 4,074.
Commissioner Joseph Ponte said an ESHU was necessary to control the most dangerous and violent inmates, according to the article.
An analysis for ESHU placement is used that predicts which incarcerated men have a propensity for violence. Factors that can make an inmate eligible include fighting, being classified part of a Security Risk Group, involvement in gang-related violence, using or possessing a weapon or involvement in protests, riots or disturbances.
Also, 63 percent were housed in ESHU for being in a gang. Things like association with know gang members, wearing certain colors or an informant’s word could label you for the Security Risk Group.
One prisoner claims he was placed in ESHU for a scalpel allegation that was dismissed and a 2011 assault on staff that occurred on a prior Rikers Island stay, according to Rakia.
“Why am I being punished for the same thing twice?” the prisoner in question asked The Nation, according to Rakia’s article. “I did the box already.”
Prisoners complain that ESHU is worse than solitary confinement. Out of cell time has been denied because of lockdowns for issues as minor as wearing a tank top, according to Rakia.
The guards use MK-9 spray whenever a detainee does “anything (the guards) don’t want him to do.” A BOC report confirms that Use-of-Force-C tactics (including the use of pepper spray) were employed more during the first two months of ESHU’s operation than in a punitive segregation unit, or in maximum-security general-population units,” wrote Rakia.
“The public …accused the department of trying to roll back the solitary confinement reforms that the board had been focusing on for so long,” wrote Rakia.
“I’ve done four years in the Box, and honesty, there’s really no difference,” a prisoner told Rakia.