The city’s Legal Aid Society has filed paperwork in court today, asking for a possible federal takeover of Rikers Island and other city jails.  

They say they plan to ask a federal judge in Manhattan for the federal government to take over the facility. The claims state that based on the numbers of violent incidents filed by the city, the jail is the most violent it has been since 2016.  

An attorney at the Legal Aid Society says years of revised protocols has not helped correct the ongoing suffering of incarcerated New Yorkers that are currently serving time in city jails.  

They say that the 18 deaths among inmates in custody of the city’s Department of Correction throughout 2022 are an example of why federal action is needed immediately.  

The letter filed in court today says the Legal Aid Society will request that an outside agency take over city jails starting on Dec. 15.