The city’s Department of Correction has made its third purchase of sniper rifles and accessories in less than a year – this time buying ammunition, scopes and tripods at a cost of about $150,000, according to records obtained by Gothamist.
The latest addition to the arsenal comes as the department cuts $17 million in training and detainee services from the troubled jail system — and despite the fact that city correction officers are not permitted to carry firearms inside jails.
Latima Johnson, a spokesperson for the Department of Correction, said some officers are also first responders, and the rifles and ammunition could be used if there were an emergency elsewhere in the city – for example at LaGuardia Airport. One former department official said the rifles could also be used to transport high-security detainees.
The recent purchases include $63,945 for spotting scopes and tripods, $19,828 for rifle scopes, and $69,074 for ammunition, including hollow point rounds, which are banned under the Hague Convention because of the damage they cause to soldiers but are still prized by many police departments because the bullets are less likely to pass through the target and injure bystanders.
The ammunition and accessories come on top of $91,171 spent on submachine guns previously reported by Gothamist, and nearly $100,000 for sniper rifles in 2022.
The purchases were made just before the city cut $17 million in job training and social services for detainees because of what Mayor Eric Adams said was the need “to make tough choices” and “be careful and make the best use of our resources.”
Marc Bullaro, a former assistant deputy warden at Rikers, said the likelihood of correction staffers actually using the equipment for a high-security detainee is slim.
“We're talking about El Chapo. We're not talking about the average guy in New York City who kills somebody or who gets arrested for five kilos of cocaine,” Bullaro said, referring to Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, the powerful Mexican drug lord sentenced to life in prison in 2019 in Brooklyn federal court.
Bullaro says the department, which is currently being considered for federal takeover, should be spending its money on other things.
“If DOC didn't have these guns, you still have the police department, the state police, and all these other agencies that have these weapons,” he said. “This money should be going for other stuff, especially suicide prevention training.”
Suicides have plagued the city’s jails while suicide prevention training has lagged. According to the city comptroller’s accounting, the number of detainees with severe mental illness has increased 20% in the last two years and is at its highest level since being tracked. City data shows officers fail to take people detained on Rikers to their medical appointments and to court appearances, while officers are disciplined for not aiding dying inmates.
So far this year, eight people have died while kept in the Department of Correction’s custody.
