De Blasio, at Rikers, announces end to solitary for teens

Gloria Pazmino

In the wake of several reports and a federal investigation about the violent and dangerous conditions inmates and corrections officers at Rikers Island face, Mayor Bill de Blasio visited the facility on Wednesday to highlight some of the changes his administration has made during his first year in office.

“I wanted to come and see for myself how we are doing and what we have to keep doing to build on this success. We know the history. It’s very troubling history,” de Blasio said, standing in the chapel located within the jail's Robert N. Davoren Complex and flanked by top Department of Correction officers, D.O.C. commissioner Joseph Ponte and deputy commissioner James Dzurenda.

“This was a place that became a less and less safe environment—an environment unfair in many ways to those who are incarcerated here as well as those who work here, and a place that did not provide enough rehabilitation which obviously is core to the mission of this agency,” he said.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/12/8558798/de-blasio-rikers-announces-end-solitary-teens?top-featured-1