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Three Inmates Small Uprising At Rikers Island Caused 10.5K In Damages To Their Cells

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Photo Credit: Daily Mail

Three city inmates caused an estimated $10,500 in damage to their cell doors and windows during a small uprising on Rikers Island, records show.

The inmates — Cory Dunton, John Doe and Akeen Green — allegedly ripped pieces off their cells and peeled away Plexiglas barriers during the Sept. 22 mayhem at 5:36 p.m. in West Facility, department documents reveal.

“The matter is under investigation,” said department spokesman Peter Thorne.

All the inmates are reported gang members and were moved to that facility with 23 other badly behaved detainees, internal jail records show. Department brass had hoped that isolating them from the other inmates would help quell their frequent bloody outbursts.

Correction officers say they fear for their safety.

“These are the very same violent inmates who COBA has for months demanded be immediately removed from Rikers Island and be placed in either a mental health facility or a jail system where punitive segregation exists,” said Elias Husamudeen, president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association. “It appears that the Department of Correction is more concerned with property damage than with preventing these inmates from terrorizing correction officers, visitors and staff. That is outrageous!”

Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte was furious the department’s vaunted Emergency Services Unit did not do more to stop the outburst, according to sources.

But the order was not given by top bosses to remove the inmates from their cells until the damage was done, according to one veteran officer.

It’s unclear how the prisoners were able to cause so much damage.

The West Facility cells “are softer” than those in other areas previously used to house reckless detainees, the source said.

After the incident, the city’s jail oversight board slammed the department for placing 26 of the most violent inmates in West Facility.

The department never sought a so-called variance from the Board of Correction to use the facility in that manner, according to a letter from the board.

Source: Daily Mail

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