Rikers Island Federal Hold.

Rikers Island is currently operated by New York City’s Department of Correction. It is a jail that primarily holds people awaiting trial in New York City’s criminal courts or serving short jail sentences. A federal receivership for the city’s Rikers Island jail system would be a court-ordered transfer of Rikers Island’s administration, jail management authority, and jail oversight from city officials to a receiver. The court-appointed receiver would temporarily manage the city’s Rikers Island jail system and execute the necessary changes to make it a safer and healthier environment for detainees.

That is precisely what we mean when we say that the likelihood of a federal Rikers receivership depends on the outcome of various civil law and criminal law cases. When we say that a Rikers receivership would not inherently affect the status of a Rikers Island federal hold, we mean a federal takeover of Rikers Island would not itself decide Rikers Island detainees’ guilt, innocence, or whether to let them go home.

• In criminal matters, a detainee’s guilt or innocence will still depend upon criminal court proceedings. The individual’s counsel must be prepared to defend against Rikers Island detainees’ charges in hopes of securing a favorable outcome. The federal government must continue to prove its criminal charges beyond a reasonable doubt. Criminal charges will not suddenly drop or be settled simply because a court appointed a receiver.
• Similarly, if a Rikers Island detainee is being held based on an immigration case, the detainee’s individual case will still depend on a favorable determination by an immigration court judge or a U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) official. The federal government will still need to prove that the detainee is subject to deportation, and the detainee’s counsel will still need to present their client’s arguments for staying in the country.

In short, if you are currently facing a Rikers Island federal hold or are worried that a future criminal proceeding could lead to a federal Rikers Island hold, you must still fight your case. Your case is in the hands of the prosecutors and judges at the city or federal levels.

What should you tell federal counsel, and what should you ask about fees?

If you are currently held at Rikers Island (or are awaiting trial or sentencing), you likely have a criminal case at the city or federal level, and/or you have an immigration case. You may need to tell federal counsel about any pending immigration proceedings as well. Criminal defense and immigration counsel may need to coordinate defense strategies. For example, a successful defense may depend on presenting your client as a law-abiding individual in the United States; and, if you have a pending criminal case, it could severely limit your ability to present successful arguments in immigration court. You should ask your federal counsel about their experience in these areas and ask how they intend to work with your other counsel.

With regard to the jail call monitoring that has brought Rikers Island into the national spotlight, detainees at Rikers Island need to be extremely cautious. Many of Rikers’ jail calls are recorded, and these recordings are available to prosecutors. This includes federal prosecutors as well as ICE, CBP, and DHS agents. When dealing with Rikers’ jail call monitoring, ask your federal counsel:

• What can I say over the phone, and what should I avoid saying?
• Will prosecutors use jail call records in my case?
• What is the private exception for defense communications over the phone?
• Why does defense counsel say my conversations with my spouse or other family members on a jail call are not protected by attorney-client privilege?

As with other forms of communication, discussions between you and your counsel are an exception to ordinary jail-call monitoring. But you will not be able to protect discussions between you and others. If you face a federal hold, remember that you cannot discuss the facts of your case on a recorded Rikers Island jail call.

Unfortunately, with regard to the third topic you asked about, a Rikers Island federal defense lawyer’s fee is not a fixed or standard amount. The supplied pages provide no reliable information on how much Rikers Island detainees might expect to pay.

How are federal charges and pretrial detention handled while someone is at Rikers?

• What is a federal target letter?

If you receive a federal target letter, you are notified that you are the target of a federal investigation. A target letter is not a criminal charge itself, although it opens a negotiation with prosecutors regarding whether your situation calls for an indictment by a federal grand jury. Your counsel may advise you about responding to the investigation, but defense counsel generally may not appear before the grand jury or present evidence there.

• What is a federal grand jury?

Federal grand juries contain between sixteen and twenty-three citizens. Their role is to decide whether there is probable cause to return an indictment. In other words, they must determine whether federal prosecutors’ allegations merit moving your case into the federal criminal court system. Generally, federal prosecutors will present evidence in the grand jury, without providing your defense counsel an opportunity to present evidence as well.

• How can a federal Rikers Island detainee get released before trial?

Whether you are eligible to seek pretrial release before your Rikers Island federal trial is determined by the Bail Reform Act. This act sets out how courts can determine whether Rikers Island federal hold detainees can be released with bail, without bail, or must remain detained until the conclusion of their criminal cases. For example, prosecutors generally seek to keep detainees incarcerated if they are a flight risk or pose a danger to the community.

• How can a federal Rikers Island detainee get out after trial or before sentencing?
• In some situations, detainees will get out at the conclusion of a Rikers Island federal trial. However, many defendants will face incarceration before sentencing. In these situations, their defense lawyers must seek release under the standards governing detention pending sentencing.

Spodek Law Group is transparent about its fees, and says so before a client signs anything.

When can an ICE detainer keep you in custody after criminal release?

• What is an ICE detainer?

An ICE detainer is an administrative request to continue to detain someone whose criminal case has just concluded. The request is sent by the government to the jail or prison where the person is being held, and the request is generally issued on Form I-247A. An ICE detainer requests that the custodial agency notify ICE before release and, in applicable circumstances, hold the person for up to 48 hours beyond the time the person would otherwise be released so ICE can assume custody.

• Does an immigration detainer mean someone was found guilty at trial?

No. An immigration detainer (or ICE detainer) is not a criminal conviction. In fact, the immigration detainer is not issued in immigration court at all. It is an administrative request issued by the executive branch of the federal government. However, it may have various immigration consequences for the detainee, and you may still need a favorable immigration case decision to get out of jail after the criminal case concludes.

• Does an ICE detainer have any immigration consequences?

The ICE detainer may trigger a criminal case outcome’s various immigration consequences, and the government may move you to a detention facility that is in another part of the country. It can make it more difficult to get access to family and legal counsel as well. If you are held under an ICE detainer, you will likely need an immigration lawyer to help resolve your immigration case so that you can get out of Rikers Island.

• What types of litigation can an immigration lawyer do on a detainee’s behalf?

One type of litigation commonly performed on behalf of detainees who are subject to an ICE detainer is Fourth Amendment litigation. For example, the Fourth Amendment only permits a detainee’s detention beyond the time required for their criminal case for a time determined by a magistrate or a state or federal judge. If a detainee is detained for longer without such a judicial order, the detainee is being held in violation of the Fourth Amendment.

What would a federal receiver control at Rikers, and what would it not decide?

Since 2016, a court-selected monitor has been tracking the Rikers Island Jail system’s compliance with various court-ordered reform efforts focusing on making the Rikers Island jail complex safer. When the judge appointed the monitor to Rikers Island, the judge ordered Rikers Island to make several types of changes to improve jail conditions. These include eliminating the use of violence, providing proper mental health care, providing medication, and ensuring proper basic needs. Over the past eight years, the court-selected monitor has found that City of New York officials failed to comply with many of these reform orders. Thus, the Monitor has recommended that the Rikers Island facilities be placed into a receivership under the receivership provisions of the proposed new settlement agreement.

Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain is presiding over the Nunez remedial proceeding concerning New York City’s jails. The decisions of these judges will turn on several factors:

• The risks and the potential consequences of appointing a receiver to take over the administration of Rikers Island
• Whether the other alternative remedies have been sufficiently tried and whether they are sufficient
• The receiver’s potential for success, considering the fact that Rikers Island has a very particular set of conditions, and there may not be an experienced administrator available who is capable of implementing any reforms
• Any other relevant factor the judges deem important

The court considered whether Rikers Island should be given another opportunity to comply before appointing a remediation manager. And he suggested the option of imposing fines for noncompliance. The judge suggested a seven-day window to decide if this will be sufficient, and he suggested that if it is not sufficient, a receiver would then be appointed. Even if these steps are not sufficient, imposing a fine or any other less-drastic remedy may still not lead to an appointment of a federal receiver.

Talk It Through With a Lawyer

Every case turns on its own facts. Todd Spodek is the managing partner of Spodek Law Group, a second generation firm his father opened in 1976, and the firm takes federal criminal and white collar matters nationwide. Call 888 348 8028 to talk it through.