National

NYC Jail Guards Use of Force a Record in 2014

Published

11 years ago

January 14, 2015

In this Dec. 17, 2014 file photo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, center left, meets with youth offenders as Acting Deputy Commissioner of Youthful Offenders, Adult Programming and Community Partnerships Winette Saunders-Halyard, center, and Department Correction Commissioner Joe Ponte, right, look on, at Second Chance Housing which serves as alternative housing for incarcerated adolescents on Rikers Island in New York. (AP Photo/The Daily News, Susan Watts, Pool, File)

JAKE PEARSON, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City jail guards reported more use of force against inmates in 2014 than ever before — an average of 11 incidents a day ranging from pepper sprayings to punches — amid heightened scrutiny from federal prosecutors to clean up what they call a “deep-seated culture of violence.”

Figures obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press via a public records request show correction officers reported using force 4,074 times last year, including 406 incidents alone in September, the month after a scathing federal report that said Rikers Island guards too often resorted to force against teenage inmates.

“There has clearly not been a commitment to date to address officer violence on Rikers Island,” said Dr. Bobby Cohen, a member of the jail oversight board who alluded to the record rates at a public meeting Tuesday. “Will that change now? I hope so. I’ve certainly not seen that before.”

The figures come the same day federal prosecutors, who have since sued to speed up the pace of reforms at Rikers, begin three days of negotiations with city lawyers and correction officials over specific language on use-of-force policy, investigations and other jail problems.

Federal prosecutors declined to comment on the data. A jail spokesman said in a statement that city Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte has a zero tolerance for excessive force and is updating the department’s use-of-force policy, improving staff training, expanding the investigation division and installing security cameras. He said those efforts and others likely will result in fewer incidents in the coming months.

Officers are required to fill out use-of-force forms every time there’s a confrontation with inmates, including when they are separating two or more inmates fighting each other. The data include the entire range of incidents from minor to serious use of force but don’t describe what happened in each case.

Use of force ranges from so-called Class C incidents such as pepper sprayings that result in minor to no injuries, to Class B incidents such as bruises and swelling that can be treated with over-the-counter care, to Class A incidents such as broken bones and deep cuts that require hospitalization.

Norman Seabrook, who heads the powerful 9,000-member Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, said the rise in reported incidents was likely attributable to guards documenting more often than they did previously in an effort to cover themselves from potential lawsuits and discipline, even if they’re legitimately defending themselves from attacks.

“If I physically touch an inmate, it’s a use of force irrespective of an injury happening,” he said. “Absolutely we’re saying, ‘Document everything. Don’t physically get into an altercation but use chemical agents. Spray them. Spray everybody you’ve got to spray but don’t punch nobody out. Just spray whoever you’ve got to.'”

But inmate advocates and others point to the scathing August review by federal prosecutors that described a “deep-seated culture of violence” at Rikers, finding that guards regularly used physical force against 16- 17- and 18-year-old inmates often for perceived slights and signs of disrespect. The report said that behavior likely held true in all of the 10 facilities on Rikers, a massive jail complex in the East River that holds an average of nearly 11,000 inmates a day on charges ranging from trespassing to murder.

One such incident occurred last month, the week before a visit from Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has vowed to reform the nation’s second-largest jail system, according to an attorney for inmate Ambrorix Celeeomio.

Celeeomio, 18, who is being held on a gang assault charge, was pepper sprayed, punched and kicked by guards December 9 in a Rikers cafeteria without cameras after getting into an argument with a jail guard, according lawyer Jenay Nurse, who heads The Bronx Defenders’ Adolescent Defense Project. She said Celeeomio, who has an IQ of 65 and is cognitively delayed, was rushed to a Rikers clinic covered in blood.

A city official, who wasn’t authorized to speak about the incident, confirmed that Celeeomio was involved in the use-of-force with at least two correction officers that day.

The data also show use-of-force rates have increased steadily in the past eight years even as the overall inmate population has declined. Guards reported 3,285 uses of force in 2013 when the inmate population averaged 11,687. There were 1,299 reports in 2006 when there were nearly 14,000 inmates.

Plaintiff’s attorneys and others have long argued the city jails are consumed by violence and the AP reported last year based on a health department study that a third of inmates who said their visible injury resulted from a confrontation with jail guards suffered a blow to the head.

Inmate slashings and stabbings have also increased from a low of 19 incidents in 2007 to 93 last year, according to the data. But they’re down from a high of 1,552 incidents in 1990 when the jail population was 20,207 inmates.

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COMMENTARY: The National Protest Must Be Accompanied with Our Votes

Just as Trump is gathering election data like having the FBI take all the election data in Georgia from the 2020 election, so must we organize in preparation for the coming primary season to have the right people on ballots in each Republican district, so that we can regain control of the House of Representatives and by doing so, restore the separation of powers and balance that our democracy is being deprived of.

Published

4 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper. File photo..

By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper

As thousands of Americans march every week in cities across this great nation, it must be remembered that the protest without the vote is of no concern to Donald Trump and his administration.

In every city, there is a personal connection to the U.S. Congress. In too many cases, the member of Congress representing the people of that city and the congressional district in which it sits, is a Republican. It is the Republicans who are giving silent support to the destructive actions of those persons like the U.S. Attorney General, the Director of Homeland Security, and the National Intelligence Director, who are carrying out the revenge campaign of the President rather than upholding the oath of office each of them took “to Defend The Constitution of the United States.”

In California, the primary comes in June 2026. The congressional races must be a priority just as much as the local election of people has been so important in keeping ICE from acquiring facilities to build more prisons around the country.

“We the People” are winning this battle, even though it might not look like it. Each of us must get involved now, right where we are.

In this Black History month, it is important to remember that all we have accomplished in this nation has been “in spite of” and not “because of.” Frederick Douglas said, “Power concedes nothing without a struggle.”

Today, the struggle is to maintain our very institutions and history. Our strength in this struggle rests in our “collectiveness.” Our newspapers and journalists are at the greatest risk. We must not personally add to the attack by ignoring those who have been our very foundation, our Black press.

Are you spending your dollars this Black History Month with those who salute and honor contributions by supporting those who tell our stories? Remember that silence is the same as consent and support for the opposition. Where do you stand and where will your dollars go?

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Activism

Congresswoman Simon Votes Against Department of Homeland Security, ICE Funding

“They need accountability. Republicans already gave these agencies an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement, funding they have used to conduct raids at schools, separate families, and deploy a masked paramilitary who refuse to identify themselves on American streets. This bill gives them more funding without a single reform to stop unconstitutional, immoral abuses,” she said.

Published

4 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12). File photo.

By Post Staff

Congresswoman Lateefah Simon (D-CA-12) released a statement after voting against legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which supports Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB).

“Today, I voted NO on legislation to fund the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 13, 2026.

“ICE and CBP do not need more funding to terrorize communities or kill more people,” she said in the media release.

“They need accountability. Republicans already gave these agencies an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement, funding they have used to conduct raids at schools, separate families, and deploy a masked paramilitary who refuse to identify themselves on American streets. This bill gives them more funding without a single reform to stop unconstitutional, immoral abuses,” she said.

“The American people are demanding change. Poll after poll of Americans’ opinions show overwhelming support for requiring ICE agents to wear body cameras and prohibiting them from hiding their faces during enforcement actions. This is the bare minimum transparency standard, and this funding legislation does not even meet this low bar,” Simon said.

“Republicans in Congress are not serious about reining in these lawless agencies. Their refusal to make meaningful changes to the DHS funding bill has consequences that go beyond immigration enforcement. TSA agents who keep our airports safe and FEMA workers who help our communities recover from disasters are stuck in limbo due to Republican inaction.

“The Constitution does not have an exception for immigrants. Every person on American soil has rights, and federal agencies must respect them. The East Bay has made clear at the Alameda County and city level that we will hold the line against a violent ICE force and support our immigrant communities – I will continue to hold the line and our values with my votes in Congress.”

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Post Newspaper Invites NNPA to Join Nationwide Probate Reform Initiative

The Post’s Probate Reform Group meets the first Thursday of every month via Zoom and invites the public to attend. The Post is making the initiative national and will submit information from its monthly meeting to the NNPA to educate, advocate, and inform its readers.

Published

4 days ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Tanya Dennis

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) represents the Black press with over 200 newspapers nationwide.

Last night the Post announced that it is actively recruiting the Black press to inform the public that there is a probate “five-alarm fire” occurring in Black communities and invited every Black newspaper starting from the Birmingham Times in Alabama to the Milwaukee Times Weekly in Wisconsin, to join the Post in our “Year of Action” for probate reform.

Reporter Tanya Dennis says, “The adage that ‘When America catches a cold, Black folks catch the flu” is too true in practice; that’s why we’re engaging the Black Press to not only warn, but educate the Black community regarding the criminal actions we see in probate court: Thousands are losing generational wealth to strangers. It’s a travesty that happens daily.”

Venus Gist, a co-host of the reform group, states, “ Unfortunately, people are their own worst enemy when it comes to speaking with loved ones regarding their demise. It’s an uncomfortable subject that most avoid, but they do so at their peril. The courts rely on dissention between family members, so I encourage not only a will and trust [be created] but also videotape the reading of your documents so you can show you’re of sound mind.”

In better times, drafting a will was enough; then a trust was an added requirement to ‘iron-clad’ documents and to assure easy transference of wealth.

No longer.

As the courts became underfunded in the last 20 years, predatory behavior emerged to the extent that criminality is now occurring at alarming rates with no oversight, with courts isolating the conserved, and, I’ve heard, many times killing conservatees for profit. Plundering the assets of estates until beneficiaries are penniless is also common.”

Post Newspaper Publisher Paul Cobb says, “The simple solution is to avoid probate at all costs. If beneficiaries can’t agree, hire a private mediator and attorney to work things out. The moment you walk into court, you are vulnerable to the whims of the court. Your will and trust mean nothing.”

Zakiya Jendayi, a co-host of the Probate Reform Group and a victim herself, says, “In my case, the will and trust were clear that I am the beneficiary of the estate, but the opposing attorney said I used undue influence to make myself beneficiary. He said that without proof, and the judge upheld the attorney’s baseless assertion. In court, the will and trust is easily discounted.”

The Black press reaches out to 47 million Black Americans with one voice. The power of the press has never been so important as it is now in this national movement to save Black generational wealth from predatory attorneys, guardians and judges.

The next probate reform meeting is on March 5, from 7 – 9 p.m. PST. Zoom Details:
Meeting ID: 825 0367 1750
Passcode: 475480

All are welcome.