island no recreation, health care was not available to people because we couldn t get them to their doctor s appointments. reporter: violence, he says, was rampant nbc news obtained more than 100 hours of surveillance video from inside rikers city officials don t contest the contents of the video scenes like this, an attempted knifing averted by an officer. and an inmate organized so-called fight night, where some detainees were forced to participate. who was running the place? the inmates run the facilities. i wrote to all the judges and district attorneys and said i can t guarantee the safety of people sent here reporter: schiraldi says one of the most pressing problems is a union contract that gives officers unlimited sick time. he points out that, of the nearly 8,000 officers at rikers, up to a third don t show up on any given day. for six years, serena townsend was
Commissioner Louis Molina on Monday asked Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Investigation Sarena Townsend to immediately step down. Townsend was lauded by a federal monitor overseeing the department, but unions wanted her gone.