The fate of a bill allowing the use of body scanners at Rikers Island jail is now uncertain, with the Democratic-led Assembly deeply divided on the issue. NY1's Zack Fink filed the following report.
Democrats in the state Assembly are usually on the same page, especially those from New York City. But proposed new body scanners on Rikers Island is causing a split between the current chairman of the Assembly's Corrections Committee, David Weprin, and his predecessor, Daniel O'Donnell.
"It's only these body scanners that can actually detect these ceramic weapons that are hidden in body cavities and have been shown. They actually had these at Rikers for a time, until they realized they needed state approval. And the slashings went down tremendously," WEprin said.
"The city bought used equipment from the TSA years ago, and this equipment is no longer in use. It is banned in the European Union. It emits radiation. They are trying to sell it as safe radiation, but there is actually no safe radiation," O'Donnell said.
Last week, Weprin helped steer the bill through two key committees, but O'Donnell came out against it, and the two clashed in front of their colleagues.
"Yeah, a little bit," Weprin said. "He was citing some inaccurate information."
When O'Donnell served as the head of the Corrections Committee, he never would have allowed the bill to be voted on. NY1 asked if he felt the current chair should show more deference to his point of view.
"It's hard for me really to say anything about that," he said. "I mean, I got along really well with the previous chair when I was the current chair. And I would have done nothing to impede the things that were important to him."
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie says he may not even allow a full vote on the bill, which overwhelmingly passed the state Senate.
"I don't know," Heastie said. "There was a lot of contention on the bill in conference. I'm not sure there is enough support to bring the bill to the floor."
Although there is sharp disagreement over whether the scanners are a good idea, there is one thing most everyone agrees on, and that is that the level of violence at Rikers needs to be reduced. Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan to close the facility could take up to 10 years.