NEW YORK (AP) — A federal prosecutor wants New York City’s efforts to reform the troubled Rikers Island jail complex to go further.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (buh-RAH’-ruh) said Tuesday that he was encouraged by reports that the city Department of Correction was ending its practice of putting youth offenders in solitary confinement. But he said that more needs to be done to protect their constitutional rights.
Bharara’s office issued a blistering report last month on an investigation into violence at three Rikers Island juvenile jail facilities.
It found them to be an unsafe environment where guards routinely abuse teenage inmates.
The remarks came at a forum hosted by Crain’s magazine.
