Report Reveals Mismanagement in Rikers Island Fire

Inmates were kept locked in cells while fire spread, sprinkler system had been shut off for a year.

Inmates at Rikers Island were kept locked in their cells for nearly half an hour while a fire spread through the jail complex in April, injuring 20 people.
The city Board of Correction found that the water supply for the sprinkler system had been shut off for at least a year and that jail staff had failed to conduct the required weekly and monthly fire safety audits for at least as long.
The fire was set by a 30-year-old inmate with a history of starting jailhouse fires, using batteries, headphone wires, and a remote control to ignite the blaze.
The Legal Aid Society highlighted 'egregious mismanagement' at Rikers, questioning the correction department’s ability to effectively run the jail complex.
The New York City Council recently approved legislation to ban solitary confinement at Rikers and other city jails, despite objections from the mayor.