NCJ Number
146095
Date Published
1993
Length
35 pages
Annotation
Report describes conditions in pre-arraignment detention facilities in New York City.
Abstract
This report seeks to educate the public and policymakers about the deplorable conditions of the holding pens -- the basements of the borough criminal court buildings -- for recently arrested individuals, to summarize the Visiting Committee of the Correctional Association of New York's (VC) efforts regarding the holding pens and the changes that have been instituted therein, and to propose reforms for remaining problems. After years of neglect, the pens are overcrowded, lack on-site health care, and suffer from inadequate food service. Additionally, unlike the city jails, the pens have no standards covering their operations for fundamental matters such as the capacity of the cells, appropriate food service, health care, and access to family, friends, and lawyers. The report contains anecdotal information to illustrate the conditions in the pens. This report recommends further efforts to improve conditions including, inter alia, the establishment of pre-arraignment medical screening programs based on the Philadelphia model (the main features of which are contained in the report), the renovation of all court pens to improve their physical surroundings, and the development of appropriate standards for holding facilities including the establishment of holding facility population caps. Appendixes include copies of follow-up letters resulting from discussions with the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction, editorials written by the author of this report that were published in New York newspapers, and a list of the directors and staff of the Correctional Association of New York.