A supervisor at the Rikers Island jail complex has been accused of threatening to withhold overtime pay and vacation days from correction officers unless they gave her gifts, including a Louis Vuitton bag, and ran her errands.
The supervisor, Latanya Brown, 51, was arrested on Thursday morning and charged with extortion and stealing from a federal program. She made more than $660,000 combined in 2024 and 2025, mostly from overtime pay, a system that prosecutors said she often abused. She faces up to 20 years in prison.
Ms. Brown “brazenly abused her authority as a law enforcement supervisor to steal taxpayer money and terrorize her subordinates,” Joseph Nocella Jr., the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement.
It was the latest allegation of an abuse of power at the troubled jail system, which was removed from full city control last year. For decades, the jail complex has grappled with deaths, dysfunction, violence and inadequate supervision. The jail complex, which is mandated by law to close by next year, has been under federal monitoring for more than a decade.
Ms. Brown has worked for the New York City Department of Correction since 2001. Between 2024 and 2025, she served as a supervisor at the jail. Ms. Brown has been suspended without pay for 30 days, after which she will be placed on modified duty.
“The allegations announced today are deeply disturbing and run counter to everything this department stands for,” Annais Morales, a spokeswoman for the department, said in a statement.
Ms. Brown appeared in Brooklyn federal court on Thursday afternoon and was released on a $300,000 bond.
According to federal prosecutors, Ms. Brown was in charge of approving shift changes, vacation requests and overtime shifts for correction officers at Rikers Island. Abusing that authority, she demanded that those reporting to her do menial work on her behalf.
A majority of her earnings came from overtime pay. Prosecutors said she was often not at Rikers Island when she claimed to be working long shifts: On more than 100 occasions, she falsely claimed to have worked certain hours when she either showed up late or left early. Sometimes, she was at a casino in Yonkers — one of the places she would make officers drive her to, according to the indictment.
Andrew Wang, a federal prosecutor, said Ms. Brown’s actions might have led to “hundreds of thousands” of dollars in losses.
Ms. Brown has faced accusations of misconduct for years related to her management of correction officers.
In 2018, The Daily News reported that Ms. Brown had routinely verbally harassed correction officers at the Manhattan Detention Complex. A year later, the city was sued by two correction officers in state court over what they said was abusive treatment by Ms. Brown.
A lawyer for Ms. Brown, Alberto Ebanks, said the charges “would appear to be completely out of character” for his client, whom he described as “hard-working and high-functioning.”
The arrest was inconveniently timed for Ms. Brown, who was set to leave on a cruise to the Bahamas on Friday, her lawyer said in court. She petitioned the judge to allow her to travel internationally, but that request was denied.
Hurubie Meko contributed reporting.
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