HER SON WAS BEATEN TO DEATH BECAUSE HE REFUSED TO JOIN THE C.O.'S FIGHT CLUB @ RIKERS!

Charnel Robinson lives her days as if her son were still alive.
The Brooklyn mom speaks about Christopher Robinson in the present tense, hasn't touched his bedroom and even celebrated what would have been his 19th birthday. "It was like he was here," said a somber Robinson, 35, of the June party.

But Christopher Robinson was pummeled to death in a Rikers Island lockup a year ago - punishment, prosecutors say, for refusing to join a fight club supervised by correction officers.

Three inmates are charged with manslaughter in connection with the Oct. 18, 2008, beating and are awaiting trial. Nine other inmates and three guards are accused of participating in the alleged fight club.

"I've been trying to live my life like he's here," said Robinson, tears running down her face. "I'm just so stuck. I'm praying, but it's like a bad dream."

The 18-year-old was behind bars for a parole violation when he was killed.

Bronx prosecutors said correction officers Michael McKie, Khalid Nelson and Denise Albright oversaw a scheme called "The Program." They are accused of ordering inmate enforcers - dubbed "The Team" - to shake down and beat other detainees.

Lawyer Sanford Rubenstein, who has called for a federal investigation of the jail, said the case may set a precedent for how inmates are treated beyond Rikers Island.

"Hopefully, this prosecution will make an impact on correction facilities all over the country," said Rubenstein, who is representing Robinson in a planned civil suit against the city. "We want justice."

A city law passed in May requires the Department of Correction to disclose statistics on violence against teenagers. The data - which the department first posted on its Web site Thursday - show that four serious injuries were suffered by inmates at the adolescent lockup during the last three months.

Correction officials declined comment.

City Councilwoman Letitia James (WFP-Brooklyn), a sponsor of the bill, said posting the violence statistics doesn't go far enough. But the Council doesn't have the power to do much more, James said.

"We can't mandate action," she said. "So we're continuing to hold oversight hearings to determine whether the department has done enough to prevent this from happening again."

In the months after the attack, the Department of Correction took some steps to increase safety, including separating younger teen prisoners from older ones and more violent offenders from less violent ones.

Rikers also improved officer-to-inmate ratios and expanded recreation programs, such as movie nights and basketball.

It's all little consolation to Charnel Robinson, who plans to go to church today to pray for her son - but can't bring herself to visit him. "I can't go to the grave. It's too much," she said. "It just solidifies the fact that he's never coming back."