madeline / testdevice
@testdevice.bsky.social
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co-host and producer of a talk show on twitch with author and professor @drdevonprice.bsky.social twitch.tv/drdevonprice i play the games also twitch.tv/testdevice_
![An elite squad of “hyper-confrontational and unprofessional” correction officers is exacerbating staff-on-inmate violence, according to a new report from the federal monitor tasked with investigating New York City jails. The Emergency Services Unit is charged with responding to riots, fires, escapes, and other crisis situations. But, according to the court-appointed watchdog, corrections staff are too frequently calling on the unit to respond to fights and to conduct searches which quickly get out of hand.
“They almost always fail to first attempt de-escalation when they arrive on the scene and appear to presume force will be required no matter the circumstance,” the report noted. “When force is employed, [Emergency Services Unit] Staff often utilize improper head-strikes, violent body slams and takedowns, violent wall slams, painful and unsafe escort holds, unnecessary use of OC spray, and prohibited holds.”
The findings echo what jail reform advocates have noticed on the ground.
“Our office is getting increasingly more and more reports from people who are in the jails about the very violent, hyper confrontational presence of the ESU in their housing units,” said Mary Lynne Werlwas, director of the Legal Aid Society’s Prisoners' Rights Project. “More and more people have been reporting abuse of strip searches and SWAT team tactics by ESU in the ordinary course of the day.”](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:ejqotqnhe6w5ctr2oec3lwgs/bafkreiaywa3gzjmsvmrwdkpkennamgljrf4elwqqeetn6stw54i4fgblhi)
