Heads are rolling in the upper ranks of New York City's Department of Correction because of the way it has handled allegations of violence and corruption at the city's Rikers Island prison. The New York Times is reporting that three executives, including the department chief, William Clemons, got pink slips earlier this week.
"The department has been under intense pressure from the news media, lawmakers and federal authorities to address systemic brutality and corruption at Rikers, the country’s second-largest jail complex," the report said.
It seems that something had to be done quickly to address those allegations, since the "United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York […] has threatened to sue the city if changes are not made," the New York Times explains. The attorney's office released a revelatory report in August that described the abuse of adolescent inmates.
With regards to corruption, a New York Times investigation discovered that an audit report detailing Clemons' prior tenure as a warden at a juvenile facility on Rikers was tampered with. The review was very critical of Clemons and actually recommended that he be demoted, according to the Times. However, the Times investigation found that a few of the sections that criticized Clemons had been removed from the report and Clemons was instead promoted—several times.
One of the other executives to be fired is Gregory McLaughlin, who was the warden of a jail for adolescents at Rikers when an 18-year-old inmate was beaten to death by other inmates.
Read more at the New York Times.