The Legal Aid Society and Emery Celli Brinckerhoff Abady Ward & Maazel LLP have secured a court ruling to appoint a receiver to reduce violence in New York City’s jails.

Although rare, receiverships have been used in the past to address local governments’ refusal to remedy civil rights violations, including schools that refused to desegregate, children’s service agencies that failed children, and several jails and prisons, including Washington, D.C., and the state of California.

In September 2012, Legal Aid and Emery Celli filed Núñez v. City of New York, a class action lawsuit challenging systemic brutality by staff against people incarcerated in New York City jails. Following a settlement in that action, the court appointed a federal monitor to oversee mandated reforms. After nearly a decade of oversight by the court and the federal monitor, and successive court interventions and remedial orders, DOC continues its pattern and practice of unconstitutional use of force. In November 2023, counsel filed a contempt motion and application for receivership.

“We commend the court’s historic decision to appoint an independent receiver to end the culture of brutality in the City’s jails,” reads a statement from the organizations. “For years, the New York City Department of Correction has failed to follow federal court orders to enact meaningful reforms, allowing violence, disorder, and systemic dysfunction to persist in the jails. This appointment marks a critical turning point—an overdue acknowledgment that City leadership has proven unable to protect the safety and constitutional rights of incarcerated individuals.”

“This decision confirms what we have long argued: transformative change in the City’s jails can only occur under the leadership of an independent authority, unbound by the bureaucratic and political forces that have stifled progress for decades,” the statement continues. “The receiver will have the authority to implement long-overdue reforms, cut through the Department of Correction’s entrenched mismanagement, and finally bring relief to those who continue to endure daily, inhumane treatment.”

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