The agency that oversees New York City's jails is refusing to release basic information about defense attorneys' visits to Rikers Island, hampering efforts to cut down long wait times for lawyers to see their incarcerated clients.
According to a new lawsuit filed by the Bronx Defenders, the Department of Correction is claiming that the time cards that show the dates and times of attorney visits are secret, and unable to be released under the state's Freedom of Information Law.
Trisha Trigilio, the director of impact litigation at Bronx Defenders, which represents low-income defendants in the Bronx, told Hell Gate that the DOC didn't want to turn the information over, either because they haven't actually been collecting it, or because it would likely show that delays for attorneys to see their clients on Rikers have gotten so bad that the City is in violation of a 2001 federal court ruling.