It's been six years since a federal judge approved a settlement to address alleged abuses by corrections officers on Rikers Island. As part of that plan, a federal monitor was appointed to oversee reforms at the complex.

But as we've been reporting, problems have persisted. And in recent months, violent assaults and deaths have increased.

Michele Deitch is an attorney and professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas in Austin. She has served as a federal monitor of conditions in Texas prisons.

"A monitor's role is to be the eyes and ears of the court," she said, adding,  "It's important to understand that the monitor isn't responsible for improving the conditions. That really falls squarely in the warehouse of the corrections commissioner."

Click "Listen" in the player above to hear her full conversation with WNYC's Michael Hill.