Let’s hope the goal wasn’t to teach by example.
A Rikers Island warden went rogue by establishing a mentor program that paired teen offenders with three alleged gang members, including an accused pimp of underage girls who’s also charged with fracturing a correction officer’s arm, the Daily News has learned.
Correction Department brass scrambled Wednesday to clarify it had not approved of the program established Oct. 2 in a memo from Deputy Warden of Security and Operations William Payne Jr., The News discovered.
The proposal tapped three inmates held at the Robert N. Davoren Complex at Rikers — Steven Pomie, Michael Ross and James Quadon — to be allowed entry into “Young Adult housing areas.”
The trio would “speak with other inmates in an attempt to keep violence down and make a safer environment for both inmates and staff,” the memo stated, noting that more inmates would be added to the list of mentors.
Jail insiders were stunned that those three inmates would serve as ambassadors. They were all gang members, according to the union representing correction officers.
Pomie, also known as “P Gutta,” is accused of pimping two underage girls out of a hotel in Jamaica, Queens. While locked up he allegedly assaulted a correction officer by slamming a door on her, leaving her with “numbness, bruising, substantial pain and two fractures to her right forearm,” court documents show.
Pomie is a top member of the Crips and has ties to incarcerated rap star Bobby Schmurda, a law enforcement source said. Pomie even lit himself on fire while at Rikers in December, severely burning his buttocks and right arm, according to the source.
Ross — better known as “Sparks” — was charged with robbery in the first degree, criminal possession of a weapon, among other charges, court documents.
Quadon — whose name is spelled “Quaduan” in court documents — is held on conspiracy charges, court documents show.
“The fact that three violent gang members, one of whom is charged with assaulting a Correction Officer, were chosen by the Warden and Deputy Warden of RNDC to mentor other inmates is a textbook example of the management failures in our department,” Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association President Benny Boscio.
“As soon as we learned of this, we immediately demanded that this outrageous and reckless memo be rescinded. Instead of putting gang members, who are directly responsible for the soaring jail violence in our facilities on soapboxes, the department should immediately break up the gangs, who are housed by their affiliations and expanding their influence by recruiting new members every day.”
When The News first inquired about the memo, stunned DOC officials speculated it might’ve been faked. Nearly all programming behind bars has been suspended due to coronavirus and inmates likely would not be permitted to move back and forth between housing units, a jail source told The News.
Top brass was apparently unaware of the memo even though the facility’s Acting Warden Joseph Caputo and other high-ranking officials were copied on it, including Deputy Warden of Administration Nicole Rene and Deputy Warden of Programs Demetria Goodwin.
The proposed program, which was scrapped before it could get off the ground, was also never sent up the chain of command for approval and the outreach never took place, officials said.
“We are committed to implementing a variety of programs which provide people in custody with resources to help them gain the skills to be productive members of society and avoid future incarceration,” Deputy Commissioner of Public Information Peter Thorne said in a statement. “These individuals were not approved for participation in any such program. This memo has been rescinded.”
Some jail staffers described Caputo as a positive influence in the jails, noting he treated incarcerated people with compassion. Others, however, said the warden was “too comfortable with inmates” at Rikers, who often referred to him as “poppie” and “JC Baller.”
Assistant Deputy Wardens/Deputy Wardens Association President Joseph Russo said Caputo and Payne “are good guys,” and that “Caputo has a history of being tapped by upper management to come in and help when jails are doing really poorly, because he gets results.”
Yet Russo was taken aback after hearing the charges against Pomie, who was handpicked by his members to be part of the program.
“I wouldn’t dare to lessen the seriousness of that,” he said. “That stops me in my tracks…That’s a despicable crime.”
With Thomas Tracy
