Rikers Island correction officers 'deputize' favored inmates as violent enforcers and send victims on 'World Tour' of prison's housing units where they are vulnerable to attack, lawsuit claims

A 19-year-old New York City prison inmate says he was the victim of a secret scheme in which Rikers Island correction officers 'deputized' inmates to violently 'control' certain members of the jail's population. 

In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Federal Court in early November, inmate Jomonni Morris claimed correction officers at the notorious NYC prison had allowed other inmates access to his cell and let them steal his property and beat him up.

Injuries Morris sustained included a broken jaw and slashed face, the latter of which required 100 stitches, the New York Daily News reported. 

Morris said in his lawsuit that he was the victim of a secret scheme known as the 'World Tour', where inmate victims are moved between different housing units at the prison and abused by guards and their favored prisoners.

Morris' mother Darlene Pounder, herself a retired Rikers' correction officer, told the newspaper that she had learned that the 'World Tour' was the new name for 'The Program,' a supposedly disbanded scheme that operated out of Rikers' Robert N. Davoren Complex several years ago.

'The Program' made headlines following the 2008 beating death of an 18-year-old Rikers inmate Christopher Robinson, who was being held on a parole violation at the time, the New York Post reported.  

Inmate Jomonni Morris, 19, claimed that he had been beaten and slashed after correction officers put him in a 'World Tour' following an argument with an officer. His mother tweeted about the attack . A picture of Morris' slashed face, side-by-side with a photo of the Chucky doll from the Child's Play movie, was allegedly shared on a private Facebook group.

In that secret scheme, correction officers picked certain favored inmates to be 'The Team,' who then acted as enforcers, keeping order among the jail population, while also extorting inmates of commissary money and phone credits.  

Two Corrections Officers - the alleged ringleaders of 'The Program' - were given plea deals, which resulted in one being sentenced to two years for assault and the other getting a one-year sentence for attempted assault. 

A third officer, another alleged ringleader, was convicted of assault in 2012 and sentenced to a year in jail. Seven inmates were also charged in Robinson’s death.

Pounder told the New York Daily News that Morris had told her that he had been 'put in "the World Tour".' 

She said: 'Inmates are being deputized by correction officers to control certain inmates. Inmates are being moved from area to area to be preyed upon by these deputies.'  

In Morris' lawsuit, he claimed that he got put on the 'World Tour' following a 2018 argument he had with a correction officer working at Rikers' Robert N. Davoren Complex.

Morris said that once in the 'World Tour,' he was moved to various housing units where jail staff knew he would be vulnerable to being attacked. 

Morris claimed that the corrections officers moved him from housing unit to housing unit on Rikers Island , knowing that he would be vulnerable to attack in those units

Morris claimed that he was put in a 'World Tour' after arguing with an officer at Rikers' Robert N. Davoren Center in 2018

Before the 'World Tour' Rikers Island correction officers allegedly ran 'The Program'

The existence of the alleged secret scheme called 'The Program' made headlines with the October 2008 beating death of Christopher Robinson, 18.

Robinson was being held on a parole violation at the time of his death.

In 2009, three Rikers correction officers were charged with secretly running 'The Program.'   

In 'The Program,' the three officers allegedly allowed a group of inmates - known as 'The Team' - to shake down and assault other inmates to enforce rules.   

In addition to beating the inmates, 'The Team' was allowed to extort commissary money and phone credits from other inmates.  

Two of the corrections officers - Michael McKie and Khalid Nelson - were given a plea deal. McKie was sentenced to two years for assault, while Nelson was given a one-year sentence for attempted assault. 

The third officer, Denise Albright, was convicted of assault in 2012 and sentenced to a year in jail.  

Seven inmates were also charged in Robinson's death.   

On February 13, the lawsuit said, an inmate who was not supposed to have been incarcerated in the same area as Morris, broke Morris' jaw.     

'This assault was preventable, and officers had an opportunity to intervene but failed to do so because the assault was executed due to being on the "World Tour,"' the lawsuit claimed.  

Morris' lawsuit claims that a month later, in March, corrections officers had allowed inmates to steal belongings out of his cell. 

This incident apparently led to Morris being transferred to Rikers' George R. Vierno Center in April. 

There, Morris was allegedly 'viciously beaten' by an inmate who was supposedly carrying out the instructions of correction officers. Among the injuries Morris suffered in the alleged attack was a 13-centimeter cut to his face that required 100 stitches to close. 

Two slashing and one stabbing incident were reported to have occurred at George R. Vierno Center in April, according to an Inmate Incident Slashing and Stabbing Report from NYC Open Data.  

A picture of Morris' slashed face, side-by-side with a photo of the Chucky doll from the Child's Play movie, was allegedly shared on a private Facebook group. 

The post, which appeared to have been written by group administrator, retired correction officer Fitzgerald David, noted that the image was sent to him by an 'unnamed source' and that it showed a 'G.R.V.C. slashing,' referring to the location where Morris was held at the time of the incident. 

The post implied that the slashing was due to limited search protocols.  

The lawsuit reportedly claimed that correction officers wanted to make an example out of Morris because his mother had once worked at Rikers.    

Morris is currently in jail at Rikers for two attempted murder cases in Queens. 

Authorities have claimed that Morris fired five bullets at a rival in the Rockaways in May 2018, but missed his alleged target. In December 2018, Morris allegedly fired a gun during a basketball game, but didn't strike anyone. 

An NYPD source told the New York Daily News that authorities believe Morris is part of a subset of the Crips gang. 

Officials have said that the majority of violence carried out in city jails is the result of gang activity. 

In October, an inmate stabbed a Rikers corrections officer at GRVC in the back of the hand with a five-inch blade while she tried to break up what was believed to have been a fight between opposing members of the Crips, the New York Daily News reported.  

The incident occurred just days after inmates had been transferred in to GRVC from another Rikers housing unit due to trouble between Crips subsets at that location.     

Pounder said that she felt 'the need to speak out to make sure that no one else’s child goes through this and ends up with his or her life being brutally taken like Christopher Robinson.'   

'Rikers Island is plagued with injustice, oppression and exploitation of its inmates like Jomonni Morris. If other inmates had the courage to end their silence and come forward they could help us finally terminate these barbaric policies,' Morris' attorneys, Katherine E. Smith and Michael LoGiudice, told DailyMail.com in a statement Monday.

The lawsuit names multiple correction officers, Department of Corrections officials and the City of New York.    

When approached for comment, the Department of Correction referred inquiries to the city's Law Department, who have yet to respond to DailyMail.com.

A spokesman for the Law Department told the NY Daily News that the suit would be reviewed.

David, the retired corrections officer, told the New York Daily News that 'Correction officers don't make any rules' and that anyone who claims that they are transferring inmates is a 'mother f**king liar.' 

He also denied the existence of the 'World Tour' or its supposed predecessor, The Program.'

David said that Morris' mother, Pounder, had been a good supervisor at Rikers, but speculated that what happened to Morris was likely due to his 'going around doing dirt to other inmates and he got what was coming to him,' David said.

'That’s what normally happens,' David said. 'You get inmates who can’t live in this house, can’t live in that house. Nine times out of 10 the Department transfers them, transfers them — but you can only run so far.'