Thanks to Mayor de Blasio and the City Council, prison inmates now have more privileges and protections than jail guards, the Correction Officeജrs’ Benevolent Association charges in a new lawsu🎉it.
The union’s new president Elias Husamudeen, who took over after longstanding COBA head Norman Seabrook was ousted over corruption charges, says the Board of Correction is “ignoring” the needs of correction officers and has become“consumed with inmate issues”– and with their own political agenda.
By shutting out൲ correction officers, Husamudeen said, officials have turned the jails into a dangerous and bloody nightmare — with more than 620 officers assaulted since January alone.
“The mayor and the [Board’s] commissioner don’t seem to be paying attentio🦄n,” Husamudeen fumed to The Post. “They just want to be the first in the nation to eliminate juvenile punitive segregation. This ওis all political. They just want to be first.”
The Correction Board, which is comprised of mayoral, judicial and City Council a𓄧ppointees, is mandated to hear and investigate grievances of both inmates and jail guards. None of the current board 🎶members have ever worked as a correction officer, the COBA president said.
“And they’re still not listening to us,💙” he lamented.
𓂃Since the mayor ordered the abandonment of solitary confinement for inmates ages 16 and 17 years old in 2014 — an “open season” mentality has prevailed among violent inmates, who can now freely assault jail guards as well as inmates and civilians, Husamudeen charged.
And on Oct. 11, the Board announced the same restri▨ctions on juveniles ages 19 to 21, effective immediately.
“Every moꦓnth, every year, since punitive solitary for the juveniles was eliminated, violence has gone up,” Husamudeen said. “All 🅰of them have blood on their hands.”
And while assailants may pick up new charges for the assaults, without solitary confinement, there 🅷are no repercussions once the inmates return to Rikers, he said.
Slashings and stabbings are up 21 percent this year, compared to the same time last year, according to the union. In February, they skyrocketed 66 percent compared to the same period a year before. There were 64 🐠stabbings by juveniles during 2015 in jails citywide, versus to 15 in 2011, before solitary was banned.
The lawsuit, which name the city, de Blasio, the Council, and the Correction B𓆏oard, contends that the board has “not established procedures for the hearing of grievances, complaints, or requests from Correction Off𝔉icers” as the city charter intends.
Instead, monthly public meetings are held, where questions are limited to just two minutes, and officer’s voices are drowned out by inmate advocacy gro🍸ups, or inmate family members.
“They’re not following the law,” Husamudeen fumed, referring to ꦉthe Board. “They themselves have become an inmate advocacyಌ group.
“We just want them to follow their law, to follow their charter, to hear us out,” he said. “We just want them to do their freaking j⛎ob, to make the jails safer.”
The mayor’s office referred inquiries to the Law Department, where a spokesman said the coꦕmplaint was being reviewed.
“We’ll review the lawsui🐼t when we’r🌞e served,” a Council spokeswoman said.
“The Board values the voicesꦉ of correction officers, representatives of COBA and other unions, and all staff working in the City’s jails,” a Board rep said in a statement. “We look forward to continued productive dialogue.”