Support local news today!

Our nonprofit newsroom relies on readers like you to power investigations like these.

Join the community that powers NYC’s independent local news.

Before you go… Follow us on Google News

for all things NYC.

Two major city public defender organizations slammed the Department of Correction Tuesday for what they described as systemic and “unconstitutional” barriers that prevent incarcerated people on Rikers Island from meeting with their lawyers, including locking lawyers in window-covered rooms without bathroom access for hours.

During a Board of Correction hearing in Lower Manhattan, Michael Klinger of Brooklyn Defender Services (BDS) and Christopher Boyle of New York County Defender Services (NYCDS) detailed widespread failures that they said violate the

See Full Page