While maintaining that reforms on Rikers Island are steady and balanced, Mayor Bill de Blasio declined on Wednesday to accept responsibility for conditions contributing to the rash of inmate deaths at the correctional facility this year.
A federal monitor recently wrote that the city has made no significant progress in the jail, when it comes to security and mismanagement. More than ten detainees have died, and five are confirmed suicides. The monitor wrote that the city failed to implement new suicide prevention policies.
