NYC to pay $2M to Family of Black Teen Beaten to Death in Jail - Attack Arranged by Guards

From [HERE] NEW YORK — New York City has agreed to pay $2 million to the mother of a young man who was killed at the Rikers Island jail by a cartel of fellow inmates who sometimes acted as enforcers for corrupt prison guards.

Christopher Robinson, 18, was jailed for a minor parole violation in 2008 when he was fatally beaten by a group of inmates in a detention unit for teenage prisoners.

Prosecutors later said the attack was the work of a gang of youths who had been enlisted by guards to help maintain rigid control over the unit. The intimidation campaign, nicknamed The Program, didn't stop at enforcing typical jailhouse rules. Prosecutors said the crew robbed fellow inmates of commissary chits and phone privileges and even decided who was allowed to use chairs in a common room.

Robinson's mother, Charnel, said at a news conference Friday that she thought the settlement was an acknowledgement by the city that something had gone horribly wrong at the jail, but she said neither that, nor the money, would ease her pain. "It just hurts every day, and it doesn't get any better, and this will not help," she said.

She said her son was putting his life back together when he was jailed for breaking a probation curfew to work late at a new job.

"When he left this world, I was extremely proud of him," she said. "He made a mistake. He paid for it, and I expected him to come home."

A city attorney whose law department division oversaw the case said the settlement was appropriate.

"This involved a very tragic situation," attorney Muriel Goode Trufant said.

Two corrections officers, Michael McKie and Khalid Nelson, later pleaded guilty to assault and attempted assault in connection with the case.