Lawsuit Asserts If Rikers Can’t Provide Medical Care, It Should Cap Population

Lawyers File Motion to Hold DOC in Contempt

The city Department of Correction should pay a $3 million fine and explain to a judge how many people it can realistically provide medical care to and take no more than that, New York’s largest public defender group argued in a court filing Monday.

The legal complaint by The Legal Aid Society and others in Bronx Supreme Court comes as the jail population has steadily increased over the past year and is expected to hit 7,000 next year, DOC Commissioner Louis Molina testified before the City Council last week.

Incarcerated people in city jails missed more than 12,000 medical visits from February through October because of a lack of correction officer escorts or space in the medical clinics, according to the department.

View full article from The City here.

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