Life (?) on Rikers Island

For all of you who haven’t seen the expose by the Times of what really goes on at Rikers Island, please read Monday, July 14th paper and weep. And here is my response. “Hooray for the publication of the in-depth investigation of Rikers Island in The Times of July 14th, by Michael Winerip and Michael Schwirtz. The vast majority of the public has long ignored those behind bars considering any treatment as legitimate punishment. Pope John Paul II is attributed as saying “A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members”. I was a Board of Correction standards specialist staffer at Rikers Island for years until becoming a New York State Parole Commissioner. It is correction’s mandate to be responsible for the ‘care and custody’ of inmates housed on the island. Rikers is a temporary facility for most; housing people who have been convicted of a crime and are awaiting transfer to state prisons, people who are held without bail or people who can’t make bail awaiting trial, people who have been convicted of crimes that carry only jail time of up to one year and people who have never even jay-walked in their lives and will be found not guilty of any crime. It may even house our brothers, our sisters, our neighbors our relatives! We all hear the sensationalized versions of crimes and criminals but as in life there is a more ordinary picture of those jailed; the addict, the bungler, the guy who has nothing to lose, the homeless and in most cases the mentally ill (with women cornering the numbers on this). The distance between the jailed and the jailer is miniscule in most cases coming from the same neighborhoods. I applaud Commissioner Ponte’s effort to reform a system that has for too long protected itself. in uniforms.”

Court Trumps Parole Recision

Court Trumps Parole Recision An amazing and unusual thing happened…the New York State Court of Appeals found in favor of reinstating the parole date of an inmate and against the Parole Board’s decision to rescind it! This appeal win signals to the Board that their decisions based on undermining media and public reaction rather than following legal standards will not go unchallenged! Queries from the Daily News to the parole board after a release decision had been granted to Pablo Costello on his fourth visit to the parole board, instigated a recision hearing citing the continuing grief of the family as reason to never release Mr. Costello.The headlines that blared the following in the Daily News in 2009 in its refined journalistic style, cued the questionable integrity on the part of the parole board and read, “Cop killer will continue to rot as parole denied for man who murdered NYPD officer in 1978” . The response to political pressure through reversing parole decisions is nothing new but perhaps this case can diminish its frequency. Pablo Costello’s crime occurred in 1978 when at the age of 22 , acting as a lookout, he and his crime partner intended to rob an auto supply store but were interrupted by a police officer inquiring about a car double parked. As Costello fled to move the car, his codefendant shot and killed the officer. Being convicted of felony murder, he was offered 5-15 years years but took the case to trial instead.getting 25 years to life. And finally after reaching the 25 year minimum making him parole eligible, he was refused on each of the three subsequent appearances making him serve six more years. When finally granted release in 2009 the board, after media frenzy, took his date away. Since then the appeals have woven their circuitous way through court. The Board is appointed to confine people if they are a risk to community safety at the court sanctioned minimum of their already considered sentence…they are not required to act as unlegislated public avengers. Pablo Costello was just released after serving 35 years.

Court Trumps Parole Recision