Nature of Claims: This action challenged excessive force and inmate-inmate violence, in violation of the Eighth Amendment, in Correctional Institution for Men (now the Eric M. Taylor Center), the City’s jail for sentenced misdemeanants on Rikers Island.
Current Status: After a lengthy trial, the court found that both the level of inmate-inmate violence and the abuse of prisoners by staff violated the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause of the Eighth Amendment. The court identified several causes of these problems, including overcrowding, inadequate use of force training, the lack of thorough and unbiased use of force investigations, the failure to discipline officers who abused prisoners, the lack of classification of prisoners, and lack of adequate security staffing. The lower court entered an injunction, and its decision was affirmed on appeal. The district court did not initially place a cap on the jail’s population, allowing the City the opportunity it requested to reduce violence without a population cap. When it failed, the court imposed the population cap. At present, activity in this case is limited to reviewing records of violent incidents and responding to individual class members’ complaints. The judgment has recently been modified by consent to conform the applicable use of force policy to the improved policy negotiated in Ingles v. Toro (see above).
Persons Affected: About 2,000 prisoners in the jail.
Reported decisions: Fisher v. Koehler, 692 F.Supp. 1519 (S.D.N.Y. 1988), injunction entered, 718 F.Supp. 1111 (S.D.N.Y. 1989), aff’d, 902 F.2d 2 (2d Cir. 2000).