The Legal Aid Society condemned the New York City Department of Correction (DOC) for appearing to tamper with data about lengthy stays in the intake areas of the Eric M. Taylor Center (EMTC) on Rikers Island, as reported by New York Focus.

Legal Aid obtained documents that revealed that in a sample of days in June 2022, DOC appeared to alter admissions data in the tracking system used to demonstrate compliance with a September 2021 l federal court order in  Nunez v. City of New York. That order required DOC to limit stays in DOC’s intake to 24 hours. 

The Court ordered this time limit in response to multiple reports of horrific conditions at EMTC, where incarcerated persons were found languishing in cramped holding cells for days, with no beds or showers or access to appropriate food and medication.

According to the documents, New York City Board of Correction (BOC) staff discovered the tampering when examining the new admission system. BOC has documented 17 incidents in which a person’s start time was changed. 

“We are deeply concerned by this revelation, which appears to show DOC employees tampering with data that is used to monitor compliance with a court order,” said Kayla Simpson, an attorney with the Prisoners’ Rights Project at The Legal Aid Society. “This seriously diminishes the credibility of the City’s public assertions that they have solved their long-standing problem of holding people for days in these uninhabitable areas, and the public deserves answers.”