The dying of Kalief Browder in 2023 infamously sparked sweeping felony justice reforms to stop low-level fees from ending in dying sentences.
Accused of stealing a backpack however by no means convicted, the Bronx-born youth entered Rikers Island at 16 and spent three years of pre-trial detention dealing with hellish circumstances, together with solitary confinement and jail violence. Browder refused to plead responsible, however his household couldn’t afford his bail. He took his life roughly a yr after his launch when a choose lastly dropped his fees.
Regardless of rollbacks and Republican assaults, bail reform legal guidelines enacted in 2020 nonetheless largely stop the town from detaining folks arrested for and accused of low-level and nonviolent crimes on Rikers Island resulting from their checking account the way in which Browder was. But, New Yorkers proceed dying in custody whereas dealing with minor fees — now earlier than they see a choose. In response to the NYPD, 9 folks died in police custody this yr, which happens after an arrest and earlier than arraignment when a choose reads suspects their fees.
In August, Christopher Nieves, 46, and Musa Cetin, 29, every died in holding cells whereas awaiting arraignment. Each males confronted minor fees. Nieves was accused of shoplifting meals from a Brooklyn Entire Meals retailer and died from a well being situation; Cetin was reportedly introduced in for lacking registration points together with his pedicab after a earlier violation.
“The considered Christopher struggling whereas ready to obtain medical therapy for hours in a jail cell, earlier than he handed away, breaks my coronary heart,” stated Candice Nieves, sister of Christopher Nieves in a press release. “Regardless of the misconceptions about my brother, his life mattered and he didn’t should die! The system failed him! He was my child brother and I liked him dearly. I want I might have been there to wrap my arms round him throughout his final moments, so he might have felt he was liked and cared for. As an alternative, he died on the jail cell flooring, ignored and alone.”
The heads of 5 public protection workplaces known as on Mayor Eric Adams, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch to handle circumstances in police lockups in a letter offered to the Amsterdam Information this previous week. Their calls for observe 9 deaths in NYPD custody this yr. The letter was signed by Juval Scott, Bronx Defenders govt director; Tina Luongo, Authorized Support Society attorney-in-charge; Piyali Basak, Neighborhood Defender Service managing director; Stan Germán, New York County Defender Companies govt director; and Lisa Schreibersdorf, Brooklyn Defender Companies govt director. It offered a 10-point plan for a way the town might cut back fatalities of New Yorkers detained by police after arrests and earlier than arraignments.
“As the town’s public defenders, we’re horrified that folks arrested are susceptible to dying in our metropolis precincts and the central reserving areas in our courthouses,” they wrote. “We voice our collective demand that New York Metropolis take concrete steps to handle the disaster of deaths happening in police custody, together with when people are arrested and awaiting arraignment.”
Their first calls for have been for the administration to “acknowledge the disaster of in-custody deaths and finish damaged home windows policing,” in addition to ending custodial arrests for low-level offenses. Below Tisch, the NYPD started deploying quality-of-life groups to police in opposition to non-emergency native disturbances from loud grime bikes to homeless encampments. Advocates tie the technique to “damaged home windows policing” to sort out seen indicators of dysfunction to stop the unfold of crime typically, a disproven technique employed beneath former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
In reality, Authorized Support Society Director of Particular Litigation Meghna Philip believes the low-level arrests might violate the legislation. In 2020, statewide laws went into impact, mandating police situation desk look tickets for many low-level fees like misdemeanors and a few nonviolent felonies. Consequently, most individuals dealing with minor fees must be allowed to return to arraignments on their very own with out police bringing them into custody, though custodial arrests for excellent warrants, like Cetin’s, stay lawful.
“They’re violating a mandate by the legislature that they need to be issuing look tickets in virtually each low-level [arrest],” stated Philip. “They’re violating the constitutional rights of individuals — they’re arresting folks, holding them in these harmful circumstances, holding them at courthouses, and it’s leading to dying.”
Different calls for included staffing non-NYPD EMTs at courthouses, rising oversight by permitting Metropolis Council members to examine lock-ups, and initiating probes into whether or not officers are educated in figuring out potential suicidal behaviors from folks in custody, in addition to an investigation from the NYC Division of Investigation’s Workplace of the Inspector Common-NYPD (OIG-NYPD).
The general public protection heads additionally requested to extend officer accountability when an individual dies in police custody. They known as for permitting the Civilian Criticism Evaluate Board (CCRB), the town’s unbiased NYPD oversight company, to kick off their very own investigations after a dying, reasonably than ready for a member of the family or pal to file a grievance. In addition they requested to amend the division’s disciplinary matrix to make failing to supply medical help a fireable offense within the occasion a profitable CCRB prosecution is authorized by the police commissioner.
Basak informed the AmNews that the letter occurred organically as a result of public protection organizations throughout the town steadily communicated with one another and have been lengthy conscious of the problems in custody.
“What we are able to visibly see is folks being held for hours on finish,” stated Basak by telephone. “Oftentimes, they’ve a psychological well being situation … you probably have any underlying psychological well being or substance abuse or medical points, it’s naturally going to be exacerbated by these circumstances of confined cells and the variety of folks within the cells.”
On Monday, September 22, advocates and electeds took to Metropolis Corridor, calling for implementation of the 10-point plan delineated within the letter. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Metropolis Comptroller Brad Lander, and councilmembers Tiffany Caban and Lincoln Ressler spoke in help.
“As a Jewish New Yorker, we have now a saying: If you happen to destroy a single life, it’s as if you will have destroyed [an entire] world, so by itself, Christopher [Nieve’s] loss is a lack of a world [and] is a tragedy, accountability can be obligatory,” stated Lander. “Care and compassion can be obligatory, however we’re not simply speaking about one incident proper now.”
“I’m so sorry [for] the households,” added Williams. “Sorry isn’t sufficient, as a result of a member of the family isn’t right here, and we have now to recollect behind the names of people that have been liked, their communities, they have been members of the family, they have been neighbors, they have been associates, they usually’re not coming again as a result of they might have stolen some meals.”
Caban, a former public defender herself, mirrored on her previous position. “You get actually self-conscious about sounding like a damaged file up right here, however what we’re speaking about is lives, so by itself, Christopher [Nieve’s] loss is a lack of a world [and] is a tragedy,” she stated. “Accountability can be obligatory. After I take a look at the general public defenders behind me and the oldsters from Freedom Agenda and the Jails Motion Coalition, there may be no one higher outfitted to inform us what the trail ahead seems to be like.”
The NYPD pointed to enhancements from 2024, when 14 folks died in police custody year-to-date.“It is very important observe that the time period ’dying in-custody’ doesn’t essentially imply the dying was prompted because of police motion,” stated a police spokesperson. “Demise in custody conditions might happen anyplace (e.g., on the scene of an incident, at a hospital, at a police facility, or in a courthouse awaiting arraignment), and dying might happen resulting from intervening circumstances past police management.
“Such intervening circumstances embody medical crises corresponding to coronary heart assault or stroke; suicides; drug-related deaths from substances taken or ingested previous to custody.”
At the very least one demand from the letter can be realized: After the rally, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Authorized Issues Michael Gerber revealed the OIG-NYPD will situation a report on the custody deaths.
“Whereas we welcome the Inspector Common’s resolution to analyze, accountability can not finish there,” stated Philip in a later assertion. “The Metropolis should confront the NYPD’s illegal reliance on custodial arrests for low-level offenses, its failure to supply medical and psychological well being care, and the unsafe and inhumane circumstances in precincts and courthouses.”
