Rikers Guards Accused of Even More Abuse, Corruption

Bronx Assistant DA James Goward says "scores" of adolescent inmates at Rikers Island were victimized by a gang of prisoners following orders from a pair of corrupt jail guards. One inmate,18-year-old Christopher Robinson, wound up dead last October, and an indictment unsealed in January named guard Michael McKie as "the architect of a criminal enterprise that recruited and trained inmates to inflict violence. They turned jail into almost a nightmare environment."

With the help of guard Khalid Nelson, McKie is accused of deputizing inmates (often members of the Bloods gang) as "managers, foot soldiers and enforcers"; they allegedly called their operation "The Program." McKie and Nelson have pleaded not guilty to "enterprise corruption," and a third officer was also charged with conspiracy. Rose Gil Hearn, commissioner of the city Department of Investigation, tells the Village Voice this is "the worst" she has ever seen in the jails.

The city has been sued repeatedly in recent years by more than a half-dozen Rikers inmates who say they've been beaten while guards either looked the other way or ordered the attacks; the city settled one case for $500,000, and another for almost $100,000. According to the Times, a new lawsuit filed yesterday concerns a March 2007 assault by a prisoner who authorities say was used by guards as an enforcer. The adolescent victim, Tyreek Shuford, was beaten, left with his head bleeding, and kept from visiting the infirmary for two days.

In another case, a guard unlocked the cell of an inmate named Camillo Douglas, allowing three prisoners who were members of the Bloods gang to attack him with brooms and metal shanks.