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Q&A
Council Member Stevens questions DOC officials about jail lockdowns and violence
1:05:43
·
6 min
Council Member Althea V. Stevens engages in a Q&A session with Department of Correction officials regarding lockdowns at Rikers Island, specifically in the GRVC facility. She expresses concern about the frequency and duration of lockdowns, citing reports of extended periods without contact. DOC officials explain the reasons for lockdowns, provide some statistics, and detail the various types and levels of lockdowns implemented.
- DOC reports 75 lockdown instances at GRVC between November 2024 and May 2025
- Officials explain lockdowns are typically caused by acts of violence or naloxone incidents
- Discussion touches on the need to balance safety measures with minimizing disruptions to inmates
Althea V. Stevens
1:05:43
Hello.
1:05:43
Good morning.
1:05:44
I just have a question.
1:05:47
I I have a colleague and and friend who's has a sibling who's in jail, and they have an issue around we need to know how many lockdowns and non movements that's happening in the JRVC Building because they had got word that they had been locked down for a number of days and just trying to see how often these lockdowns are taking place, what are the cause of some of these lockdowns because we have some serious concerns.
1:06:16
And this was like, apparently, like, a week or two ago.
Francis Torres
1:06:21
To give you a general overview on lockdowns, I'll have senior deputy commissioner, Fraget.
Fritz Fragé
1:06:30
Good morning, ma'am.
1:06:31
S.
1:06:31
T.
1:06:32
Frajjay.
1:06:32
In reference to the lockdowns of GRVC or any other facility on Rikers Island, those are generally based on acts of violence or naloxone appointments that occur in those facilities.
1:06:44
So as for instance this weekend there were three acts of violence in one facility which means we'd have to lock the facility down to make sure all the persons in custody are safe and before we open back up to search for possible weapons and things of that nature this week
Althea V. Stevens
1:06:58
So do you have like an average on how how often these lockdowns are taking place?
Fritz Fragé
1:07:02
I don't have an average in front of me right now but I can provide that to you after this meeting in near future.
Althea V. Stevens
1:07:08
And so it like so obviously, how long does the the lockdown typically take place?
1:07:15
Because what I'm hearing it was for a couple weeks and we she doesn't know the building that unit he's in.
1:07:21
She just knows it's JRVC, the building and she doesn't know what house he's in.
Fritz Fragé
1:07:27
There is no couple weeks of lockdown.
1:07:29
It's a day, several days depending on the circumstance and how many happened in that facility and the time it takes for us to have enough staff to search and to make sure that it's rendered
Althea V. Stevens
1:07:38
How long does it typically take your staff to search if there is an active violence or something like that?
Fritz Fragé
1:07:44
If there's only one active violence, usually they activate some of the units go up there instantaneously when it happens.
1:07:50
If it's overnight, they're locked on until we can get the personnel.
1:07:53
Sometimes the facilities we we ask security staff to start doing their searches on their own but it varies.
1:07:58
I can't give you specifics on the exact timing on how long each takes but it's based on the severity of the circumstances and the situation and it's a fluid situation.
1:08:07
If we have a situation where there's 10 or so people in reference to violence and three or four going to the hospital, that puts a strain on us to manage the facility also.
1:08:16
So those are all the considerations that take place.
1:08:18
I can give you more information at a later date exactly how many we've had the past month and where where we rectified them.
Althea V. Stevens
1:08:25
Oh yeah, definitely.
1:08:26
If you could follow-up offline and definitely give me how many has taken place in the last month, how long and the the length that they were and I'll also try to get the exact house that we had got these reports from that they were on lockdown for a number of weeks and just try to get an understanding of what's happening.
1:08:43
Thank you.
Fritz Fragé
1:08:48
And I said I can give you some information on, for instance, November 2024, EMTC had 32 all the way to May of twenty twenty five.
1:08:56
So for the month of from November 2024 to May of twenty five, EMTC had 32 lock in situations.
1:09:03
GRVC, the facility from the month of November 2024 to May 2025, they had 75.
1:09:10
They were all being after that day.
1:09:12
So you were specifically in restaurant with the GRVC?
1:09:14
So those are the numbers for the GRVC.
Althea V. Stevens
1:09:16
I'm sorry.
1:09:17
Say that again.
1:09:17
Sorry.
Fritz Fragé
1:09:17
Those are the numbers for GRPC.
Althea V. Stevens
1:09:19
It's 75.
1:09:20
They had 75 lockdowns between November and and till May.
1:09:24
Until May.
Fritz Fragé
1:09:25
I can't tell you the length, but those are exact numbers for those instances.
James Boyd
1:09:30
Okay.
1:09:30
And just in general council members, the last go to really is to lock down a house.
1:09:35
It really does depend on a situation.
1:09:38
We have tried to strive not to lock down an entire facility and prefer if there's a specific concentrated situation in the housing area to just open up the entire facility and just keep that specific housing area on lockdown.
1:09:49
So it really is a case by case basis, but yes if you can certainly get us the housing area that would be super helpful for us to give you that feedback.
Althea V. Stevens
1:09:56
No, no, listen I understand that there's a line and we have make sure that we're keeping everyone safe, but from what we were hearing that they there was a number of weeks where they were locked down and and folks couldn't get in touch with them, and it was causing a lot of issues.
1:10:08
And so I'll definitely follow-up offline to get you the exact house because I think she's working on that now, but 75 is a lot and so so thinking about what are we doing to mitigate the violence so that we can have less violent outbreaks and things like that and so I think all of those things needs to be considered because if there was seventy five between November and May, is locking down, is that working?
1:10:32
Because, you know, for me, it's always thinking about are there other solutions and what are the ways for us to think about.
1:10:36
But I will get that information.
1:10:39
I'll follow-up.
1:10:39
Thank you.
Sherrieann Rembert
1:10:40
Councilwoman Stevens, the lock ins, there's a process.
1:10:45
So you could do a one hour lock in if there you suspect an incident that's going to occur.
1:10:50
Then we have a housing area lock in, a facility lock in, and also we could have partial lock in where two of the persons in custody must lock in for their own safety concerns so we can bring them out.
1:11:01
So, when we talk about lock in, emergency lock in, there's a there are steps and levels to it.
1:11:08
It's not just we lock it in.
1:11:09
It depends on what it is.
1:11:11
Now, when SCC Frajee spoke about 75 for GRBC, we have to determine was it a housing area locked in, was it a departmental lock in, was it a facility lock in?
1:11:25
Or was it partial lock in?
1:11:27
And, was it just an hour lock in with the assistant deputy Warder Ken locked in?
Althea V. Stevens
1:11:31
They were saying specifically it was a lockdown and non movement and this was going on for several weeks, so that that's the bulk of the information I had so I know obviously they're gonna be different circumstances and things like that and so I just you know like I said it's more asking like what's the process and obviously it's different circumstances.
Sherrieann Rembert
1:11:51
Different levels, yes ma'am.
1:11:52
Different levels, different stages.
1:11:54
So, you definitely give us that information, we'll check and get back with you.
Althea V. Stevens
1:11:57
Yeah, and also again like just thinking about like what are and I know the tools are limited.
1:12:03
I don't want to pretend like we don't have limited tools, but thinking about is are there other things that we could be doing too?
1:12:08
So but I'll I will follow-up with you guys offline just to get you some more information because we were trying to come to facility, but our schedules didn't align, but there was there was quite some
Faisal Zuber
1:12:21
there
Althea V. Stevens
1:12:21
were some concerns because she we couldn't get in touch with her brother for quite some time.
Sherrieann Rembert
1:12:25
Thank you.
1:12:25
Yes, ma'am.