Attorneys with The Legal Aid Society’s Prisoners’ Rights Project expressed dismay over a report by The New York Times which detailed the widespread lying by New York City Department of Correction staff to mask violations of unnecessary force being directed at people in DOC custody.

An analysis of data covering a 20-month period revealed that more than half of officers being reprimanded for use of force infractions either lied about their involvement to investigators or filed incomplete or inaccurate reports.

Mary Lynne Werlwas, Director of The Legal Aid Society’s Prisoners’ Rights Project, remarked on the institutional bias that allows officers to evade taking responsibility for violations – a situation that is only now beginning to change following the repeal of 50-a, the statute that shielded most law enforcement misconduct records from the public.

“The entire system of use-of-force reporting depends upon officers giving accurate facts and telling the truth about what happened,” Werlwas said. Unless there is video evidence, she added that “[The] officer’s word gets credited when it is an incarcerated person’s word against an officer’s.”