The highest-ranking uniformed official at the city Department of Correction resigned under pressure on Monday amid a furor over allegations that he downplayed juvenile violence in the prison system, The Post has learned.
Chief of Department William Clemons submitted his resignation Monday under pressure from Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte, sources said.
“Yes, he was told to resign or be fired, so he was forced out by Ponte,” a source said.
Clemons was allegedly involved in hiding hundreds of instances of correction officers fighting with teen inmates, resulting in a sanitized internal report three years ago, the source said.
Negative publicity surrounding that episode led to Ponte being skewered and prompted City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito to call Clemons “clearly incompetent.”
“I think they had to do this. Correction is out of control, and this guy [Clemons] had some warts on him,” a senior Correction official said.
A Correction spokesman did not return a call for comment, and a message for Clemons was not immediately returned.
Preet Bharara, the US attorney in Manhattan, issued a scathing report in August, claiming a “deep-seated culture of violence” against adolescent inmates at Rikers Island.
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