The U.S. Is Suing New York Over a Horrific Pattern of Cruel and Unusual Punishment

Uncredited/AP
Impact

Federal prosecutors sued New York City on Thursday over alleged civil rights violations after a Department of Justice investigation found a "deep-seated culture of violence" against young inmates at the Rikers Island jail.

Seth Wenig/AP

The DOJ's lengthy investigation found that the New York Department of Corrections "relies too heavily on punitive segregation as a disciplinary measure, placing adolescent inmates in what amounts to solitary confinement at an alarming rate and for excessive periods of time."

Uncredited/AP

An administrative law judge recommended in September that the six officers involved in Hinton's brutal beating were fired, but this sort of excessive force persists at Rikers.

Editors Note: Mar. 2, 2015 

An earlier version of this article failed to cite a passage from Buzzfeed in accordance with Mic editorial standards. The article has been updated to properly attribute the language to Buzzfeed.