The latest report from Steve J. Martin, independent Federal Court-appointed Monitor in Nunez v. City of New York, paints a grim picture for New Yorkers held in custody by the Department of Correction, as reported by THE CITY.

The report finds that levels of force and violence in New York City jails are at a historic high. The Monitor reports that “data on uses of force, fights, stabbings, and slashings among people in custody and assaults on Staff reveal that 2021 has been the most dangerous year since the Consent Judgment went into effect.”

Calling the Department of Correction an agency “in crisis,” the Monitor makes clear that DOC “lacks the most rudimentary building blocks upon which progress could be built,” where “decades of poor practices has produced a maladaptive culture in which deficiencies are normalized and embedded in every facet of the Department’s work.”

“That correction officers resort to abuse and brutality as a matter of course, rendering even short stays in custody both treacherous and traumatic,” said Mary Lynne Werlwas, Director of The Legal Aid Society’s Prisoners’ Rights Project.