ATTORNEY: Rikers Island Inmate On Hunger Strike Labeled A ‘Snitch’ By Correction Officer And Beaten In Retaliation

DAILY NEWS: An outspoken Rikers Island inmate on hunger strike was transferred to a unit filled with gang members who severely beat him after a correction officer labeled him a snitch, the head of a city public defenders organization wrote in a scathing letter Wednesday to new jails Commissioner Louis Molina.

Ervin Bowins, who helped lead the hunger strike beginning Jan. 7 in the Robert N. Davoren Center, faced a “campaign of retaliation” along with other inmates who joined the protest, Stan German, executive director of New York County Defenders Services, wrote.

The strike was in response to poor conditions and lack of basic services in the jails.

The Daily News broke a story on the food strike on Jan. 11, quoting Bowins by name. Two days later, according to German’s letter, the Davoren Center warden’s security detail removed Bowins from the jail.

“He was told he was ‘too influential,’” said Chris Boyle, an attorney with Defenders Services who spoke with Bowins. 

He was moved Jan. 13 into the George R. Vierno Center, where he was held in fetid, crowded intake cell, Boyle said. Then Bowins was dumped into a “gang dormitory,” German wrote in the letter.

As Bowins entered the dorm, a correction officer yelled, “Here’s your snitch back!” Boyle said.

Roughly 10 to 15 detainees then allegedly jumped Bowins, beating him.....

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