Federal judge holds NYC and its Department of Correction in contempt on 18 counts over years of unaddressed violence and use-of-force failures at Rikers Island, setting up a federal receivership
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What happened
U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain ruled on November 27, 2024 that the City of New York and its Department of Correction failed to comply with nearly a decade of court orders in the Nunez consent decree, finding the city in civil contempt on 18 separate counts covering use-of-force policy, staff supervision, and protection of young people in custody. Swain said she was inclined to impose federal receivership, and Rikers subsequently moved toward becoming the 13th U.S. jail system placed under a court-appointed remediation manager. A mayoral spokesperson said the administration was 'proud of our work' while acknowledging 'more to be done'; the Department of Correction itself did not respond to press requests for comment.
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What happened next (1)
On January 27, 2026, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain named Nicholas Deml as the remediation manager for the Rikers Island jails in the Nunez case, the court-appointed role she chose in place of a full receivership. Source ↗