CA Press Release

ADVOCATES AND YOUTH URGE CITY TO PROTECT ADOLESCENTS INCARCERATED IN ADULT JAILS

RECENT DEATH OF TEEN  POINTS TO TROUBLING LEVELS OF VIOLENCE IN ADOLESCENT HOUSING UNITS ON RIKERS ISLAND

For Immediate Release                                            November 24, 2008

Contact:     DeAvery Irons
                    Correctional Association
                    917-386-7233

New York, NY –Today, members of the Juvenile Justice Coalition, a statewide advocacy coalition, gathered on the steps of City Hall to demand that city leaders take immediate steps to protect the safety of young people incarcerated on Rikers Island. 

Every year, the New York City Department of Correction (DOC) incarcerates nearly 800 youth under the age of 18 in adults jails.   New York is one of only two states in the nation that automatically treats all 16-year-olds as adults in the criminal justice system.   On October 18, 2008, 18- year-old Christopher Robinson was found dead in his cell, covered in welts and bruises. 

“We know from talking with youth who have been recently released from Rikers that there are high levels of violence in the adolescent units.  We urge DOC to expand and further implement positive adolescent programs, such as the Institute for Inner Development” says DeAvery Irons, Project Associate of the Correctional Association’s Juvenile Justice Project, the group that coordinates the Juvenile Justice Coalition.  “Training staff to use proven youth development techniques has effectively reduced violence in the units where the program has been utilized,” she continued.

One of the main differences between adult jails and juvenile facilities in New York City is the difference in staffing. In the NYC Department of Juvenile Justice detention centers, which hold children aged 15 and younger, the staffing ratio is one adult to every eight youth. In the dormitory units on Rikers Island, the staffing ratio is one adult to every 50 youth.

“One fundamental way to meet the needs for youth in the adult criminal justice system is to expand efforts to divert them from incarceration, “says Mishi Faruqee, Director of the Children’s Defense Fund- New York.  The JJC called on the city to expand the use of community-based programs that provide intensive supervision and services in lieu of incarceration.

JJC members also urged the New York City Council and Department of Correction to protect the safety of incarcerated youth by increasing its staff-to-youth ratio, training staff in a positive adolescent development model, and regularly releasing data on violent incidents and injuries on Rikers Island disaggregated by age and facility.

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