Legal Aid Society to file for federal takeover of Rikers Island

By Aidan Graham Posted on November 14, 2022

Ahead of a critical court showdown, the Legal Aid Society will ask the federal government to take over control of Rikers Island from the city, as they accused Big Apple’s leadership of allowing “extraordinary suffering” and unnecessary deaths among inmates.

“Years of plans, revised protocols, and recommendations have not corrected the City’s intractable failures — subjecting incarcerated New Yorkers to extraordinary suffering, and in far too many instances, death,” said Kayla Simpson, an attorney with the non-profit organization.