Courts should speed up proceedings to reduce Rikers population – Queens Daily Eagle

By Jacob Kaye

With the city’s legally mandated deadline for closing Rikers Island now less than three years away, senior court officials said this week they want to implement a series of reforms to the city’s criminal courts to reduce the prison population, which , such as z is currently almost twice as large as what Rikers can accommodate replacement players.

Senior court officials on Thursday announced a series of four changes to the way the city’s criminal courts operate that they say will reduce delays in trials, particularly in cases where a defendant is incarcerated.

The reforms, supported Thursday by lawmakers and advocates across the spectrum, come as Rikers’ population continues to grow under Mayor Eric Adams. When Adams, who also said he supported reforms, took office, there were about 5,300 people incarcerated at Rikers. According to the Department of Corrections, more than 6,500 people were held at Rikers on any given day in September.

The rising population may be the city’s biggest obstacle in its efforts to close Rikers Island and open four county jails to replace it. In total, the four prisons, which include a prison planned for Kew Gardens, will be able to hold 4,160 inmates – the prisons were originally designed to hold 3,300 inmates, but Adams said he would increase the prisons’ capacity by about 800 beds earlier this year .

Although a number of factors may have contributed to the increasing prison population – including an increase in the number of arrests by the NYPD under Adams – an increase in delayed cases in recent years has also contributed to this increasing population. As of last month, more than 500 people had been at Rikers awaiting trial for more than two years.

On Thursday, Chief Judge Rowan Wilson, Chief Administrative Law Judge Joseph Zayas and other court leaders said their reforms would address some of the root causes of procedural delays.

“Efficient criminal courts are an essential part of our justice system, and we cannot accept a status quo that routinely tolerates excessive delays,” Zayas said in a statement. “The proposed closure of Rikers Island jails provides additional incentive to explore new strategies to ensure that serious criminal cases do not stall while defendants wait in jail and victims and witnesses await resolution and closure.”

The reforms, which will initially be implemented in the Brooklyn Criminal Court, were developed in collaboration with the Center for Justice Innovation, a court system partner that conducts independent research and development of programs related to criminal justice reform. According to court officials, the proposed changes came from meetings with stakeholders across the criminal justice system.

The reforms include a new policy requiring judges to plan trials to prioritize early disclosure of key evidence. Judges are also being asked to set firm deadlines for compliance with disclosure requirements and to hold hearings quickly if there are disputes over evidence in a case.

Once a case moves past the preliminary stage, judges must hold pretrial suppression hearings earlier in the process, rather than just before trial. Because hearings take place earlier in the trial, both the defense and prosecution have the opportunity to better assess the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence and witnesses in a case, officials said.

The court system will also create a team of trial attorneys in each criminal court in the city who will be tasked with conducting late-stage case conferences with prosecutors and defense attorneys to help resolve any issues and ensure cases are ready for trial in time .

Court officials said they would also soon roll out a new case-tracking calendar system designed to provide deputy district attorneys and defense attorneys with clear schedules for hearings and trials.

After being rolled out in Brooklyn this fall, the reforms will be tweaked and rolled out in the city’s four other boroughs early next year.

“Introducing these common-sense case management innovations, starting in Brooklyn and soon expanding citywide, will minimize unnecessary delays in cases – and ultimately help reduce the time defendants spend on Rikers Island awaiting resolution of their cases – as we strive for.” “We must balance public safety and the rights of individuals awaiting trial,” Zayas said.

Wilson, who was tapped by Gov. Kathy Hochul last year to lead the state’s court system and has been praised by progressive lawmakers and advocates for his criminal justice reform work, said the “backlogs and delays have long been typical.” [court] system are inexcusable.”

“We are not here to point fingers, but to work with our many partners to identify and implement innovative protocols like the ones we are implementing in Brooklyn, as well as diversion programs that address both pre- and post-sentencing incarceration could be replaced by therapeutic approaches in appropriate cases,” Wilson said in a statement. “Victims, defendants and the public deserve a criminal justice system that acts quickly, intelligently and compassionately.”

The court’s commitment to speeding up proceedings was praised by both Adams and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who have clashed over the mayor’s management of the prisons for the past two years.

The mayor, who has faced sharp criticism from advocates for the role his own administration has played in increasing the population at Rikers and delaying the prison’s closure, has frequently criticized the courts for the impact of delayed trials on the criminal justice system.

“During the pandemic, cases have lagged for far too long, resulting in extreme backlogs that have severely impacted our city’s jails, and while our officials work tirelessly to ensure our justice system is implemented in a timely manner, reforms have been urgently needed,” said the mayor in a statement on Thursday. “Chief Administrative Judge Zayas’ decision to enforce innovative policies such as issuing case scheduling orders is wise and effective and will allow our criminal justice system to address the backlog of cases and serve New Yorkers more efficiently.”

The council spokesman also welcomed the reforms.

“Excessive and unnecessary delays in our justice system have increased length of stay at Rikers Island, increased the city’s jail population, and undermined safety and justice,” she said. “These are critical efforts to achieve faster justice for both those awaiting trial and victims of crime, and are leading us to close Rikers.”

The reforms were also celebrated by all five of the city’s district attorneys and several public defender groups, including the Legal Aid Society.

The courts’ commitment comes not long before the Independent Rikers Commission 2.0, created by the mayor and speaker last October, is set to release a new set of recommendations that the city would have to follow to close Rikers by August 2027.

The commission, led by former Chief Justice Jonathan Lippman, first released a report detailing the path to closing Rikers about half a decade ago. However, the city is several years behind the original schedule for closing the prisons and has completely deviated from the commission’s plan to close Rikers.

In August, the Eagle spoke with a number of advocates and lawmakers about the city’s chances of reviving the plan to close the prison complex by the current deadline. While some said they believed the city still had time to correct course, others said the goal was now unrealistic.

“I don’t think we’re going to close Rikers until 2027,” City Council member Sandy Nurse, chairwoman of the City Council’s Criminal Justice Committee, told the Eagle in August. “We still have a long way to go.”

However, in a statement Thursday, Nurse praised the court system for its promise to help reduce Rikers’ population, with the ultimate goal of helping the city meet its legally mandated deadline.

“I commend Chief Administrative Judge Zayas for implementing new court systems and efficiencies to bring us closer to preserving basic civil rights,” Nurse said. “The backlog of criminal cases has created an untenable situation in which individuals remain incarcerated for extended periods awaiting trial.”

“As we approach the mandated closure of Rikers Island, it is important that we continue these reforms to meet not only our operational capacity, but also our ethical obligations,” she added.