A housing unit on New York’s Rikers Island designed specifically for prisoners who started fires was forced to close a day after opening after a federal monitor determined it lacked the proper fire equipment.
Fire suppression systems are standard equipment in all housing units, federal monitor Steve Martin tells Gothamist, but the need is “particularly acute for a unit attempting to re-house known fire-setters and thereby reduce arson.”
The news comes as lawyers are arguing about whether the federal government should seize control of New York City’s jails from the city due to increasingly unsafe conditions at Rikers Island.