US District Judge Laura Taylor Swain in Manhattan said the city had placed incarcerated people in “unconstitutional danger” by failing to comply with 18 separate provisions of court orders pertaining to security,

NEW YORK -- A judge on Wednesday found New York City in contempt for failing to staunch violence and brutality at its jails, a scathing ruling that puts the troubled Rikers Island jail complex on the verge of a federal takeover.

A U.S. judge on Wednesday said she was leaning toward ordering a federal takeover of New York City's Rikers Island jail complex, after finding the city had failed to improve violent conditions that put inmates and staff at risk.