Rikers Guards Who Stuck Through Crisis Will Get Bonuses: Mayor

New York City NY

22 September, 2021

4:12 PM

Description

NEW YORK CITY — Rikers Island guards who stepped up as notorious jail's conditions hit rock bottom will be rewarded, Mayor Bill de Blasio promised Wednesday. Triple shifts for corrections officers will end by October as the city takes steps to alleviate a staffing shortfall and intake problems at the jail, de Blasio said. He said officers who worked those shifts went above and beyond are heroes. "Here's what I do for the good, hard-working officers: bonuses for everyone working a triple," he said. Other officers who took steps to help during the crisis will receive bonuses as well, de Blasio said. The mayor also took aim at officers — and, in particular, their union — who he claimed caused mass absenteeism as part of a "sick out" that exacerbated the crisis. The city is suing the Corrections Officers Benevolent Association over the accusations, which union officials deny. "You should be ashamed of yourself, which is why we are bringing a legal action against you," he said. The crisis at Rikers has only grown as de Blasio and officials take steps to stem it. Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jerry Nadler, Jamaal Bowman and Nydia Velázquez called conditions at the jail "deplorable and nothing short of a humanitarian crisis," in a letter to de Blasio and Gov. Kathy Hochul. They demanded inmates be released and the facility be closed.