This week, Manhattan Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain held oral arguments in the contempt motion against the city and the Department of Correction for its handling of the Rikers Island complex. Swain said she’d rule on contempt soon, but the more significant directive was to give 45 days, until Nov. 12, for the city’s lawyers, federal prosecutors and representatives for the plaintiffs to draw up a leadership plan that would include specifics on a potential federal receiver.
