Former Rikers Island Inmate Sues For Wrongful Imprisonment

An inmate of New York City prison, Riker Island, filed a lawsuit claiming that he was held in the prison for an extended period of eight months which went beyond the date of his release.

According to a report by New York Daily News, Glenn Kindler, 55, was to complete his two-to-four year sentence on Feb. 12, 2015, for charges of burglary.

However, according to the lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court on Monday, Kindler spent 252 days more in the prison facility as city Department of Correction officials did not credit him with a jail term which he had served before at the state’s Fishkill Correctional Facility, New York.

The report further stated that Kindler’s case a complicated one after he was arrested for stealing a cup of coffee in April. 19, 2014. He was sentenced to an additional 15 days in prison.

According to the lawsuit, Kindler had to spend 252 days more inside Rikers Island before the city and state officials realized his false imprisonment and then finally released him on Oct. 22, 2015.

Both the city and state officials stated that they were not to be blamed for the mistake, said the report.

Spokesman of the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision, Thomas Mailey reportedly said, “ (The state) Department of Corrections and Community Supervision has no legal authority to credit an inmate’s sentence with jail time without the requisite certification from the locality .”

Mailey continued, “ When that certificate was provided, the department acted in a timely fashion .”

A spokesman of a city Correction Department refused to comment on the pending case, the report stated.

However, NYC Correctional Department spokesman Peter Thorne said, “But (corrections) personnel work diligently to make sure jail time certification is accurate .”

Nicholas Mindicino, Kindler’s lawyer reportedly stated that “He [Kindler] wrote to various people in state and city facilities” adding “Nobody wanted to fix it.”

Mindicino continued with regards to the actions of the corrections department, “There’s law that they are required to follow .”

“They just didn’t. This is an issue that anyone could have fixed at any time once the error became apparent,” he added.

The report then states that Kindler’s case was not an isolated one. According to officials of Legal Aid Society-an American institution which provides legal help to the people who can’t afford it-47 clients had to be saved from wrongful incarceration. These 47 clients overstayed their release dates over a massive 4677 days. They were given justice due to the institution’s Time Saved campaign this year.

According to the Legal Aid lawyers, false incarcerations happen due to mismanagements in handmade calculations and also due to old computer systems used by government agencies. According to advocates for the inmates, the state’s complex sentencing laws also play a major role in such incidents.

In a case similar to that of Kindler, a man from Queens, Aitabdellah Salem was wrongfully held in Rikers Island prison for a period of six months as jail correction officials and Legal Aid Lawyers did not inform him that the amount for his bail was reduced from $50,000 to $1.

According to a report by New York Post, Salem filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Federal Court which said that two New York judges were able to lower his bail amount to $1 for his arrest on Nov. 2014. However, he was not given this information by Rikers officials and also by Legal Aid lawyers.