WNYC; Andrea Bernstein; Politics and Punishment on Rikers Island: Corrections II
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- NEW YORK, NY (2004-07-14) Earlier, WNYC looked at how hundreds of employees of the New York City Department of Correction came to work on Republican political campaigns for a decade beginning in the 1990's, often on City time. Those who participated were rewarded with the choicest assignments and promotions. Those who worked for Democrats faced demotion, cuts in pay, and transfers to the most dangerous jails. Today, WNYC's Andrea Bernstein reports on how nobody has been charged with wrongdoing for these activities. In 2002, word of the political operation at Riker's Island began to leak out. Sarah Wallace: We watched as dozen's of corrections officers, some in full uniform arrived to rent cars. Channel 7's Sarah Wallace sent a hidden camera to the dollar rent-a-car at the foot of the Riker's Island Bridge. At the same time, the Daily News was working on an article that ran under the headline: Rikers to Riches Story: Pataki pays jail chief 233G as part time political aide. The jail chief in question was Anthony Serra, who held the second highest ranking unformed job at Rikers Island. Top Republican campaign officials insisted to us they didn't know Serra was pressuring subordinates to do political work. During that fall campaign for re-election, Governor Pataki himself said he didn't know the details. Governor, what was your understanding of what Anthony Serra was doing for your campaign for a quarter of a million dollars? Pataki: What he had done to help Mayor Bloomberg, what he had done to help Mayor Giuliani. On his weekly radio show, Mayor Michael Bloomberg also downplayed the story. Caller: Mayor, I'm just curious what you're going to do about this. Bloomberg: There's an allegation that he's done it on company time and we're investigating to make sure that's not true. After that I think it's probably not true, nobody got forced. We investigated, too. And we found, in dozens of interviews and hundreds of pages of sworn testimony, that top officials in the Department of Corrections were well aware that employees, including Anthony Serra, were actively involved in Republican campaigns. Eric Taylor held the highest uniformed job on Rikers. Taylor: Let's face it they all did it because they were hoping their guy won and if their guy won they were hoping to get something. That's the American way. In fact, there was evidence suggesting that what was happening on Rikers was illegal, that city workers were misusing taxpayer resources -- and there WAS a preliminary investigation. The corrections commissioner at the time, Michael Jacobson, was briefed. Jacobson: I did know there had been a prior investigation not just into Serra, but into a few people doing campaign work on DOC time. William Fraser commissioner at the end of the Giuliani years and the beginning of Mayor Bloomberg's term. He said in sworn deposition testimony he saw city employees working at the Republican State Convention in 2002, during the day. Speaker: The Chair appoints the following committee to inform Governor Pataki of his designation to the office of Governor. Music: And baby, you better believe, I'm back in a New York groove In the deposition, Fraser testified Chief Serra met me and was walking me around, introduced me to a couple of people. Fraser said he also saw several subordinates at this convention, including an assistant chief, an assistant deputy warden, and a number of correction officers. Even though they were there during a weekday, Fraser didn't check to make sure they were off the clock. Questioned by the attorney for a correction employee who sued the city, Fraser was asked: Did you attempt to find out why those individuals were there with Mr. Serra? Answer: No. Fraser was well aware of the political work. He testified he worked on election day himself for the Republicans, in 1993. There were four commissioners who served from 1993 to 2002: Anthony Schembri, Michael Jacbson, Bernard Kerik, and William Fraser. None of them ever championed an investigation of illegal political activity at Rikers Island. But down the chain of command, there were attempts. In 1995 Ralph McGrane was a warden. He received a complaint that employees were getting time off around election day. And there WAS an internal corrections department probe. But the investigator herself was harassed. While she was in McGrane's jail, investigating the matter, her badge was stolen. McGrane: Which is a big deal, especially in a jail because someone can take that shield and escape. McGrane says he knew instantly it was an inside job. So he called Anthony Serra and another subordinate into his office. McGrane: I emphatically told them that shield better show up I want that shield back now. Within a matter of minutes the shield was returned. Not long after that, the investigator's car was set on fire. She quit the Department of Correction. This probe was dropped. Michael Caruso is the head of the oversight body designed specifically to root out corruption and waste in the Department of Correction. But in his fifteen years as department of correction inspector general, there have been no formal charges of political corruption emanating from the Department of Correction. Keeping with DOI policy, Caruso would not discuss his investigations publicly. Over in Manhattan, the Board of Elections was asking its own set of questions about a registration drive for independence party voters. The drive was organized by Republicans to help Governor Pataki win that party's ballot line. Party and corrections employees say the drive was a major project of Anthony Serra's in 2002. At a hearing that August, Board of Elections clerks said they'd found thousands of questionable ballots submitted by supporters of Governor George Pataki's campaign for re-election. Clerk: You had some made up names, you had Manuel Noriega, my favorite one is Romeo Shagwell. (Laughter) Commissioner Douglas Kellner a Democrat, wasn't laughing. Kellner: What we are facing now is an apparent level of registration fraud that is unprecedented in the board history in the last hundred years and really harkens back to the 19th century abuses. Kellner wanted to refer the matter to the Manhattan D.A. But the Board of Elections, which is evenly divided along party lines deadlocked, and no further action was taken. Later that year, up in the Bronx - where Rikers is officially located, another investigation WAS conducted. Johnson: We're announcing today the indictment of Anthony Serra a former three star chief in the Department of Corrections. In February of last year Anthony Serra was indicted by Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson. But not for politically related work. Instead, he was charged with using on-duty correction staff to renovate the bathroom and do gardening work in his Putnam County home. Some correction employees interviewed by the D.A.'s office told us they don't understand why the indictments haven't gone further. They say the D.A. has route maps for election day seized from Anthony Serra's Rikers Island trailer, computer hard drives, and lists of hundreds of employees who were working on the GOP campaign operation. Law enforcement sources told us any number of laws could have been broken including larceny, theft of services, and coercion. We asked the Bronx D.A.'s spokesman, why there have never been charges brought on the political matters. His answer: It's under investigation. If and when a determination is made there is sufficient evidence a crime has been committed, charges will be brought. Both Anthony Serra and William Fraser have told newspaper reporters they did nothing wrong. Through their attorneys, they declined to be interviewed. Martin Horn was appointed correction commissioner in January, 2003. Horn: I can't fix the mistakes that people made in the period before I got here I am not an investigative agency. Horn says when he took over there were 250 employees who weren't working in the jails they were supposed to be working in. That made it easy for them to do work that wasn't official corrections department business. Horn says he's put an end to that practice. He says all promotions are now made on merit. But as to calling people to account, he says that's beyond him. Horn: Aaaach, what makes you think this dept is different from any other dept? Look at how many times do we see -- I remember growing up in New York City and reading stories as a youngster of city workers that were called to kick back part of their salary. There's nothing new here, I'm not frustrated with that. To date, not one correction employee has been charged with doing political work on the taxpayer's dime. For WNYC, I'm Andrea Bernstein. Copyright 2004, WNYC
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WNYC-FM
Identifier: 39547.1 (WNYC Media Archive MDB)
Format: Data CD
Generation: Copy: Access
Duration: 00:08:35
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WNYC-FM
Identifier: 39547.2 (WNYC Media Archive MDB)
Format: Data CD
Duration: 00:08:35
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- Citations
- Chicago: “WNYC; Andrea Bernstein; Politics and Punishment on Rikers Island: Corrections II,” WNYC, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed July 16, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-80-70zpcwzd.
- MLA: “WNYC; Andrea Bernstein; Politics and Punishment on Rikers Island: Corrections II.” WNYC, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. July 16, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-80-70zpcwzd>.
- APA: WNYC; Andrea Bernstein; Politics and Punishment on Rikers Island: Corrections II. Boston, MA: WNYC, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-80-70zpcwzd