DASHBOARD UPDATE: NYC Comptroller Releases New Monthly Data on Department of Correction Operations

 

The New York City Comptroller’s Office released a monthly update to its Department of Correction (DOC) Dashboard, available here. The dashboard monitors pervasive issues in the City’s jails, including staff absenteeism, missed medical appointments, and incidents of violence among detained people and staff. It also tracks the jail population every month, which fell slightly to 5,879 people in custody. The detained population remains well above the capacity of the borough-based jails intended to replace the notorious Rikers complex. At a City Council hearing last week, DOC Commissioner Louis Molina cited that the agency expects Riker’s population to be over 7,000 people by 2024.

The DOC data for November shows little progress on the key metrics available for the dashboard:

• As of November 30th, the jail’s population fell slightly, to 5,879, of whom 5,084 were detained pretrial.
• Uniform headcount continues to decline with the average number of full-time staff declining by 1% this month.
• Total employee sick time grew slightly in November, while a persistent 12% of staff are out sick on a given day. Sick time usage remains lower than the peak in January 2022, when nearly 30% of staff were out.
• Measures of violence were mixed: The number of stabbing incidents declined by 17% and assaults on staff declined by 14% compared to the number of incidents in October. At the same time, the jail system recorded 104 more fights in November than in October, the highest recorded number since September 2021.

The Comptroller’s office has closely tracked pervasive issues in the City’s jail system dating back to 2014, and in August 2022, Comptroller Lander produced the Department of Correction dashboard to provide detailed, timely metrics for the press and public to assess progress on addressing ongoing management issues at DOC. Comptroller Lander was the first citywide elected official to call for a federal receiver to oversee reforms at the jail complex, citing rising violence, deaths in custody, and lack of progress on key reforms.