By C1 Staff
NEW YORK — Mayor de Blasio’s vow to reduce the use of solitary confinement may be backfiring as violence continues to rise at Rikers.
The New York Daily News reports that nearly 20 inmates alone were slashed in the past month, bringing the total for this year up to 40.
The danger is attributed to not only the high number of mentally ill inmates and lack of use of solitary, but also staff shortage, not enough space for inmates to be incarcerated and too many young employees trying to cope with the mentally ill inmates.
Some inmates are feigning a mental illness in order to avoid solitary.
One mini-riot occurred on May 23, where 18 inmates refused to take down a barricade of flipped-over mattresses. An inmate hit a corrections officer with his own baton, causing the officer to require 11 staples to close the wound.
There have been four deaths on Rikers Island this year so far, compared with six in 2013 and nine in 2012 over the same period.