NYC Correction Dept. is concealing records related to heat wave safety, lawsuit charges
The New York City Department of Correction is concealing information about its response to an extreme heat wave that threatened Rikers Island inmates last year, a lawsuit filed Monday in Queens Supreme Court charges.
The complaint, filed by attorneys from the Legal Aid Society and the firm Crowell Moring LLP, claims the city jails agency has violated Freedom of Information Law by refusing to turn over forms documenting instances when inmates refused to be transferred to air-conditioned housing units between July 19 to 21, 2019.
The Department of Correction has also declined to turn over logbooks detailing the distribution of ice to inmates as temperatures reached the high 90s in New York City, the lawsuit states.