An emergency hearing was held Friday on the escalating situation on Rikers Island after a federal monitor called for external security management to help with safety concerns. 

New York congressional leaders called on President Joe Biden to intervene. 

A total of 12 people have died while in custody at Rikers Island this year, with the latest inmate death occurring just earlier this week. 

Elected officials have spent the last month calling for reform, citing inhumane conditions and security concerns. 

While a federal monitor laid out his immediate recommendations in court on Friday, New York congressional leaders wrote to President Biden asking for help amid a humanitarian crisis. 

"There's more deaths, more violence, more self-harm, more suicides. The city of New York cannot be trusted to manage the situation at Rikers Island without federal oversight and supervision," says Rep. Ritchie Torres. 

Federal monitor Steve Martin also called for external security oversight in a letter to the Southern District of New York ahead of the court hearing, as well as security initiatives to address breaches, suicide and inmate processing. 

Torres says that the situation has spiraled out of control and that there needs to be an investigation to determine what reforms are necessary to stabilize the jail. 

"The city has to come under scrutiny because it has left Rikers Island to descend into complete chaos, into the correctional equivalent of a failed state,” says Torres. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio has recently come under fire for not visiting the jail and witnessing the conditions firsthand.

De Blasio says that he plans to visit Rikers Island next week.