In the past in Rikers brutality cases, correction officers have frequently managed to escape serious punishment. But in a highly unusual legal decision, published on Monday, Tynia Richard, an administrative law judge, wrote that the six officers had lied about what happened, that Mr. Hinton had been handcuffed the whole time, and that because such “brazen misconduct” must be put to an end, she was recommending the most severe sanction available, termination for all six. “Hopefully, it will help break the vice grip that silence and collusion played in this incident,” she wrote. The judge’s decision is a fresh indication that pressure by federal prosecutors, as well as scrutiny by the media, may be starting to have an impact on the way such brutality cases, long tolerated at the Department of Correction, are handled. Nevertheless, the fact that two and a half years elapsed between the episode and the judge’s decision underscores what continues to be a crucial issue at Rikers: the slow pace of internal investigations of guards accused in brutality cases.
In Rare Rebuke for Rikers Officers, Judge Urges Firing of 6 Who Beat Inmate - NYTimes.com
