Dear New Yorkers,  

It’s been a week of truly horrific news out of Rikers Island. 

First, we learned that Department of Correction (DOC) officials failed to properly report the deaths of Rubu Zhao and Joshua Valles. 

Then today, in a huge obstruction of transparency, we learned that the DOC abruptly decided to stop notifying the media when an incarcerated person dies — and will no longer do so in the future. 

I want to be absolutely clear: The lives of people awaiting trial on Rikers are not disposable. Their deaths cannot be swept under the rug. 

Apparently, DOC leadership doesn’t care enough about the humanity of the people in its custody enough to even report honestly when they die. In fact, jail officials reportedly also sought to prevent the release of an alarming federal monitor’s report that noted “serious and disturbing incidents involving harm to incarcerated persons” on Rikers. 

Since the Department of Correction is no longer providing this critical information to the public, my office has updated the Comptroller’s Department of Correction Dashboard to say deaths in custody are “unknown.”

This dashboard — updated once a month — monitors pervasive issues in the City’s jails, including staff absenteeism, missed medical appointments, and incidents of violence among detained people and staff. It also tracks the jail population every month and length of stay. 

We publish data to this dashboard to provide increased transparency and accountability over the City’s jail system. We cannot manage what we don’t measure, and right now DOC is failing to both measure and manage the humanitarian crisis in our city’s jails. 

Now, more than ever, the appointment of a federal receiver to operate Rikers is a moral and operational necessity to confront the jail system’s utter disregard for accountability. In the meantime, we’ll keep pushing for transparency and justice.  

In solidarity, 

Brad