Rikers Staff Tampered With Records, Hiding Intake Rule Violations, Documents Show

Rikers staff repeatedly altered records to extend the clock on a 24-hour time limit for holding people in notorious intake cells.

Chris Gelardi   ·   October 17, 2022

New York Courts Are Ghosting Disabled New Yorkers

When disabled litigants who can’t to come to court in person request virtual appearances, they often don’t hear back.

Sam Mellins   ·   October 13, 2022

Solitary by Another Name: How State Prisons Are Using ‘Therapeutic’ Units to Evade Reforms

A landmark solitary confinement reform law created a new, “rehabilitative” type of isolation unit. In practice, they’re often little different from the solitary units they were meant to replace.

Chris Gelardi   ·   October 5, 2022

Prisons Are Illegally Throwing People With Disabilities Into Solitary Confinement

Lawmakers banned solitary confinement for people with disabilities. But the state prison agency has crafted its own policies.

Chris Gelardi   ·   September 26, 2022

Judge Frees Man From Rikers in Exceptional Decision Citing Bail and Jail Conditions

The ruling, which isn’t binding on other judges but will surely be noted by them, was based on the 2019 bail reform law’s requirement that judges consider defendants’ ability to afford bail.

Sam Mellins   ·   September 21, 2022

State Prisons Are Routinely Violating New York’s Landmark Solitary Confinement Law

Five months after a law to scale back solitary confinement went into effect, a majority of the New York prison system’s solitary population had been held there for longer than the law permits.

Chris Gelardi and Emily Brown   ·   September 12, 2022

Lawmakers, Judge Seek Evidence Behind Prison Package Ban

The prison agency has stonewalled lawmakers’ requests for information justifying the policy.

Rebecca McCray   ·   September 8, 2022

A Prison Used Solitary Confinement to Force a Trans Man to Undergo a Genital Exam, Lawsuit Alleges

Prison officials had already seen his genitals three times. But the superintendent ordered a more invasive exam, the lawsuit alleges. (Note: detailed descriptions.)

Chris Gelardi   ·   August 31, 2022

Did New York’s Chief Judge Break the Law to Pick Her Interim Successor?

Janet DiFiore may have gotten a say in picking her interim successor, boosting a judge who has never once voted against her.

Sam Mellins   ·   August 29, 2022

Did New York’s Chief Judge Break the Law to Pick Her Interim Successor?

Janet DiFiore may have gotten a say in picking her interim successor, boosting a judge who has never once voted against her.

Sam Mellins   ·   August 29, 2022

Distrust, Power Wrangling, and the Battle Over Rochester’s Next Public Defender

The Monroe County legislature’s president, Sabrina LaMar, has denigrated public defenders and shut them out of the now-eight-month-long process to appoint the next head of their office.

Chris Gelardi   ·   August 23, 2022

Judge Strikes Down New York Jail’s Prolonged COVID Visitation Ban

The ban had helped the local sheriff rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars in profit from detainee video and phone call fees.

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg   ·   August 18, 2022

An Opening for Defendants’ Rights on New York’s Highest Court

The court’s last term included a slew of cases rolling back defendants’ rights. Progressives hope to reset that trajectory.

Chris Gelardi   ·   July 14, 2022

Eric Adams Wants to ‘Drill Into’ Complaints Against NYPD Gun Unit Trainees. So We Did.

Officers trained for the NYPD’s new Neighborhood Safety Teams average nearly double the number of substantiated civilian complaints than the NYPD as a whole.

Chris Gelardi   ·   July 11, 2022

A New Conservative Majority on New York’s Top Court is Upending State Law

A new four-judge bloc has consistently voted together in its most recent term, impacting criminal defendants, workers and people suing police.

Sam Mellins   ·   July 7, 2022

We’re About to Know a Lot More About NYPD Misconduct

Two years after the repeal of a state law that kept police performance records secret, documents narrating alleged NYPD abuse are starting to become public. But it could still be years until they’re all released.

Chris Gelardi   ·   June 30, 2022

Jail Visitation Ban Drives Big Profits for Sheriff on Phone Calls

More than two years into the pandemic, the Broome County Sheriff’s Office is still prohibiting all jail visits. That helped rake in more than half a million dollars last year.

Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg   ·   June 14, 2022

NYPD “Business Improvement” Officers Dismantled a Homeless Encampment During a Memorial for a Dead Resident

As part of an initiative by Mayor Eric Adams, the city has swept the encampment where Jose Hernandez would often sleep nearly 10 times this year.

Chris Gelardi   ·   June 14, 2022

The State Police Sent You a Friend Request

Twice this year, Kathy Hochul has ordered a State Police-run fusion center to beef up its social media monitoring. Documents show that analysts create fake accounts to do that work.

Chris Gelardi   ·   June 13, 2022

Exclusive: Here Are the New NYPD Gun Units’ Trainees. Many Have Histories of Excessive Force Complaints.

Adams promised they’d be different. But a roster compiled by New York Focus shows that officers who trained for the new teams allegedly beat, harassed, and illegally arrested people while previously working on plainclothes teams.

Chris Gelardi   ·   May 23, 2022