Rikers Island.
Photo: EMMANUEL DUNAND/2011 AFP
Here’s another item to add to the long list of problems in New York City jails: The Daily News reports that 33 percent of corrections officers failed to show up for work during the January 27 snowstorm, while only about 2 percent of cops, firefighters, and sanitation workers were absent. Insiders said officers who go AWOL are rarely punished, though their absence creates a dangerous situation. Hundreds of inmates were locked in their cells for hours because of the staff shortage, and many guards who did show had to work double shifts. “They wouldn’t let them leave because they had no one else,” said a corrections source.
