NYC jail visits suspended as COVID-19 infections skyrocket
NEW YORK - With a surge in positive COVID cases among Rikers Island and other city jail inmates, the Department of Corrections is temporarily suspending in-person visits.
Correctional health services report the most recent 7-day positivity rate for individuals in custody is 17.21 percent, nearly double the previous week.
"I've checked, and as of this morning, despite a major increase in infections we have no hospitalizations," said Dr. Mitchell Katz, CEO of NYC Health & Hospitals.
"We are taking these precautions once again because we know that they work and that they will make everyone safer," said DoC Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi in a statement.
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In reaction to the rapid spread, especially at Rikers Island, the Legal Aid Society and city public defenders are calling for a halt to any new admissions, and the release of some current detainees.
"We need to get the jail population low in order to stem the COVID outbreak, and also to meet the challenges of the staffing shortages that have been plaguing the city jails now," said Marie Ndiaye, Supervising Attorney of the Decarceration Project at the Legal Aid Society.
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The DoC policy - now on pause - allowed visitors in with no testing or vaccination requirement. The policy drove the rise in cases, according to Correction Officers Union President Benny Boscio, Jr. He says his members have an 85% vaccination rate.
"Coming into our system, officers are being regularly tested, so why not the inmates and their visitors? Why aren't the inmates mandated if we're mandated?" Boscio Jr. said.
The DoC says 38.3 % of inmates have had both shots. Those who test positive are put in separate housing units.
In order to encourage inmates to get the booster shot, Mayor Bill de Blasio has ordered a $100 incentive which would show up in their commissary account.