Under a plan proposed by Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte, guards at New York City’s notorious Rikers Island prison complex will be allowed to use the electroshock device on resisting inmates or those trying to "physically injuring themselves," according to a directive seen by the Daily News.
"Considering the decades long culture of violence on Rikers… it’s appalling that Mayor [Bill] de Blasio and Commissioner Ponte would invest in tools that have been shown to cause death," the outlet quoted Glenn Martin, from a group advocating the prison’s closure, as saying.
The New York Post reported last week that DOC had booked training in using Kel-Tec shotguns, which can also use standard ammunition, for the staff in city jails with the Virginia firm as part of a program to modernize the emergency services units.
