This is a jailhouse crock.
The city Correction Department burned $59,260 in taxpayer cash on new “Playstation 4 and 5” games to keep inmates in line, The Post has learned.
The staggering sum, which city records show was earmarked for the agency’s Adult Programs Division, was used to purchased 1,247 games, including dozens of copies of bloody fighting titles such as Mortal Kombat 1 and Street Fighter 6, as well as this year’s Madden NFL and NBA 2K24, agency spokeswoman Latima Johnson said.
“You have homeless people who don’t have anything, but if you come to jail, you have everything — we’ll spend $59,000 for video games!” one correction officer of 15 years told The Post.
Throughout the week, groups of inmates from select housing units pour into rec rooms on a rotating basis to play the games, according to a longtime officer.
Access to the consoles, the officer said, is “definitely holding the carrot over” inmates’ heads to get them to cut down on fighting and rule-breaking in the clink, especially in facilities housing younger perps.
“It’s like, ‘Don’t misbehave this week . . . we’ll give you access to the Playstation or XBOX,’” he said.
But critics slammed the agency for wasting taxpayer dollars to coddle criminals — and encouraging their heinous behavior to continue once they exit the jail complex.
“If anything, we’re teaching them to feel like more of a privileged criminal,” railed Celestino Monclova, a former Rikers correction officer, who pointed to inmates’ access to video games and other special privileges as contributing to the post-pandemic spike in crime across the city.
“The people getting released … they’re exhibiting the same [problematic] behavior they were thriving in jail with,” he said.
Benny Boscio, head of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, blasted the agency for blowing funds on games for crooks instead of essential needs, such as proper air conditioning for inmates and jail staff during the recent heat wave.
“Surely if they have enough money for video games, there’s enough money to make sure our essential workforce remains healthy and comfortable during extreme weather conditions,” the union head seethed.
DOC has relied on video games in recent years to keep problematic inmates under control, with then-Commissioner Cynthia Brann admitting in 2018 that jail officials dangled access to consoles as a way to get “persistently violent” offenders to follow the rules.
The agency splurged $82,500 in taxpayer funding on knock-off Game Boys in May 2020 to keep jailbirds entertained — instead of securing additional face masks and COVID-19 testing kits for Rikers Island staff.
