Why I Blew the Whistle on Extreme Confinement on Rikers Island

I’m a licensed scientific social employee. For over a decade, I’ve labored with individuals on parole, lots of whom are mandated to substance abuse and psychological well being therapy. My ardour for advocating for these instantly impacted by our so-called legal justice system has additionally led me to pursue a Ph.D. in Social Welfare. I’ve all the time hoped to alter the insurance policies that hurt the individuals I serve.

So in 2023, when the chance got here to work on New York’s Rikers Island jail advanced, I knew I needed to take it. I didn’t wish to be one other “skilled” who spoke about incarceration with out ever having set foot inside a jail or jail. I wished to witness the truth and to face beside these residing it.

I began my job as a scientific supervisor for psychological well being that December. I used to be assigned to 2 models within the George R. Vierno Middle, a jail for grownup males. One unit was for commentary. The opposite was a PACE (Program to Speed up Medical Effectiveness) unit for intensive therapy.

Whereas I had an orientation about my position and job duties, I wasn’t ready for what I quickly witnessed: the widespread use of a follow referred to as “deadlocking.”

“Deadlocking” was the time period corrections officers used to explain how they might lock people in psychological well being models of their cells for weeks or months at a time, often below the guise of safety. Deadlocked sufferers usually went with out human contact, daylight — or their medicines, together with these to deal with their psychological sickness.

Every day in my models, I had quite a few sufferers locked in. I additionally witnessed it in different models all through the jail, and I mentioned it with friends and my superiors. Everybody knew what deadlocking was, even the people detained there.

Whereas violence towards workers is an actual downside at Rikers, I noticed many individuals deadlocked because of private choices the corrections officers made. An officer would lock a person in as a result of they felt disrespected by the affected person or they checked out him in a “bizarre means.”

As soon as sufferers have been deadlocked, they might quickly decompensate to the purpose the place they’d bang on their doorways, scream all day and evening, and smear feces throughout their cells. The officers would then use conduct that was a direct results of excessive confinement to justify extending it. Generally I couldn’t eat lunch as a result of I smelled feces, and I couldn’t consider my work due to the banging and screaming.

Despite the pervasiveness, deadlocking was not an official coverage. We weren’t allowed to make use of this sort of de facto solitary confinement as a software for managing affected person conduct. The follow clearly went towards the minimal requirements that the Board of Correction had set to make sure secure and humane housing of individuals detained, particularly for these recognized with a critical psychological sickness.

Since deadlocking was towards the foundations, nobody documented it. Officers made up their very own system to maintain monitor of who was locked in. Of their safety bubble, on the management panel, they might place items of white paper on high of the buttons that opened the cell doorways of deadlocked sufferers. “White tags” let different officers know to not open a cell.

As a result of officers had full management of the follow, psychiatric workers would report missed doses of treatment as “affected person was not produced” or “affected person refused.” To my data, the psychiatric nurse practitioners on the models who have been prescribing these medication noticed what was occurring however didn’t converse out.

I couldn’t perceive how any of this was taking place in psychological well being models. It made no logical sense that individuals who have been imagined to be receiving therapy have been being denied treatment and positioned in circumstances that will exacerbate their signs of psychological sickness.

As a social employee, I’m a mandated reporter of abuse or neglect. As an illustration, after I labored in an outpatient psychological well being program, we have been instructed quite a few instances that if we suspected a shopper was being harmed, we have been required to contact the state’s Justice Middle for the Safety of Individuals With Particular Wants. We additionally acquired formal coaching on methods to make a report.

On Rikers Island, I used to be shocked to be taught that I used to be not a mandated reporter for the grownup inhabitants I served. I actually wished to report the deadlocking to an outdoor company as a result of it was inhumane and towards my code of ethics. However I used to be by no means instructed who to contact or methods to file a report. I even thought of sharing what I’d witnessed with the Board of Correction anonymously, however I had spoken out about this follow so many instances, I used to be afraid individuals would put it collectively. The one means I noticed to securely report what I witnessed was to not work at Rikers anymore.

One particular person, whom I’ll name B., left a long-lasting mark on me and sparked my choice to depart Rikers. He taught me that probably the most highly effective acts of advocacy can start with talking the reality and strolling away from injustice.

B. was in his early 30s. He’d been recognized with schizophrenia years earlier than, and he had an extended historical past of arrests and homelessness. Like lots of my different sufferers, he’d been transferred from one other psychological well being unit.

Officers in my unit instructed me they might be deadlocking B. as a result of that was the case in his earlier unit and “he likes to play with shit.” Since deadlocks weren’t documented, I didn’t know the way lengthy this man had been locked in. By the point I met him, he was screaming, banging and smearing feces in his cell. His water was turned off as a result of he’d flooded his cell.

I pleaded with a number of the officers on my unit, they usually lastly allowed him to be “let loose” of his cell. Consequently, B. was in a position to take a bathe, discuss to his friends, take part within the restricted actions supplied, use the cellphone, go outdoors, and — most significantly — he had entry to all of his medicines.

Since B. had been confined with out his treatment for at the least a month, he nonetheless acted oddly. As an illustration, he usually stood by my door and stared. This didn’t trouble me as a result of I knew of his situation. He did nice for the primary week. Nevertheless, after I returned to work on Monday, I discovered him deadlocked once more.

Not one of the officers I requested have been positive of why. They did say that they’d heard {that a} feminine officer who had come from the unit throughout from mine to get water from our workplace felt uncomfortable about how B. was taking a look at her.

Locked in once more, this man was screaming, banging, smearing feces and tearing up his mattress in rage. At that second, I noticed there can be little or no change I may make working in that jail.

Ultimately, I used to be in a position to get B. transferred to the PACE unit, which affords the best stage of psychological well being care on Rikers. He was terrified when he got here in, asking me frantically if a tag can be placed on his cell.

As a result of B. had been discovered unfit to face trial, he was on a waitlist for an outdoor facility operated by the Workplace of Psychological Well being. His flip lastly got here up, and he was despatched to a hospital, the place he spent roughly three months.

On Sept. 20, my final day on the job, B. got here again to Rikers and was unrecognizable. Throughout his time away, he’d acquired therapy and was not deadlocked. He’d gained weight and was in a position to have a coherent dialog with me.

It broke my coronary heart when he blamed himself for being deadlocked. I used to be so heartbroken that I ended the session with out telling him it was my final day. Greatest follow would have been to let him know prematurely to provide him the chance to course of and say goodbye. However I might have damaged down and cried. I didn’t wish to do this in entrance of him, the opposite sufferers, and the correction officers.

So I went again into my workplace and cried. I believed this model of B. — wholesome, coherent, even joyful — was who he was imagined to be the entire time. At that second, I knew for positive that leaving was the precise choice. I may do extra on the skin than I may on the within.

I am a quiet soul who usually hides within the nook, however I knew I needed to discover the voice to talk out. As soon as I resigned, I testified earlier than the Board of Correction about this follow and acquired media consideration. Quickly, I used to be knowledgeable by public defenders who have been representing people on the psychological well being models and the few former coworkers nonetheless chatting with me that my sufferers and others have been launched from impasse.

The Division of Investigation started a proper investigation that I used to be instructed may take a yr to finish. Together with Social Staff and Allies In opposition to Solitary Confinement, I’m working to move a state invoice that will prohibit well being care staff from taking part in torture, together with long-term solitary confinement. The regulation would additionally require well being care staff to report suspected abuse of incarcerated people or danger shedding their license, and supply whistleblower protections to make sure the confidentiality and security of each the reporter and the incarcerated particular person.

Stepping ahead as a whistleblower is rarely simple. It means risking your security, your livelihood, and your sense of belonging. I used to be very scared that I might face threats and retaliation towards me and my household.

I used to be additionally afraid of being within the public eye. However I wasn’t alone. From the start, I had help from my household, a number of shut mates, public defenders and people from grassroots organizations. Nearly all of the activists who proceed to help me have been incarcerated, so that they know what was at stake. They stand by me after I want it probably the most. That is what each whistleblower wants.

On my final day at Rikers, sufferers who knew I used to be leaving offered me with handmade playing cards. I seen how they used the colours I most frequently wore — pinks and purples. This confirmed how carefully that they had been paying consideration. Considered one of them wrote, “Thanks for being a supply of sunshine in a darkish place. Thanks for caring, thanks for exhibiting that its okay to care for your self.”

The care these males put into these playing cards meant extra to me than any of the levels I’ve earned, which nonetheless sit in packing containers years after I’ve acquired them.

Not a day goes by that I don’t take into consideration Rikers and the individuals I left behind. I don’t solely bear in mind their names, but additionally their tales, the instances we shared, and their profound impression on me for the remainder of my life.

Justyna Rzewinski is a mom, licensed scientific social employee and Ph.D. candidate primarily based in New York Metropolis. Born in Poland, she immigrated to the USA on the age of seven, unable to talk English. This expertise profoundly formed her dedication to fairness and inclusion. Her work spans scientific follow, analysis and activism and is grounded within the perception that therapeutic should be the inspiration of any simply system. Her doctoral analysis focuses on felony disenfranchisement as a mechanism of racialized political exclusion and democratic suppression. Observe Rzewinski on Instagram at @justynaspeaksup.

In response to fact-checking questions and requests for remark, a New York Metropolis Division of Correction spokesperson said: “As quickly as these allegations of unauthorized lock-ins have been made public, the Division of Correction referred this matter to the Division of Investigation, and that investigation is ongoing.”

In response to fact-checking questions, the communications workplace of NYC Well being + Hospitals/Correctional Well being Providers said: “It’s each CHS coverage and follow that each one CHS workers, affiliated staff, and contracted service suppliers report incidents that have an effect on affected person care, well being service supply, and the protection of workers and sufferers. When workers encounter obstacles to delivering companies to sufferers, they’re anticipated to tell their supervisors, who will escalate, as wanted, to resolve such obstacles. A Well being Service Administrator, and different members of the CHS Operations crew, can also be obtainable to jail-based workers to deal with incidents in actual time.”