Two folks died on Rikers Island in the identical afternoon following medical emergencies final Friday, June 20. They mark the sixth and seventh folks to die in or instantly after New York Division of Corrections (DOC) custody this yr.
Jail employees seen Benjamin Kelly in medical misery throughout a routine walkthrough round 3 p.m. The 37-year-old Black New Yorker was pronounced lifeless half an hour later. In the meantime, James Maldonado’s medical emergency occurred throughout transport to Rikers Island round 4:30 p.m. shortly after his arraignment. He was pronounced lifeless at 4:49 p.m. after employees tried to help him on the sally port of a Rikers Island jail.
New Yorker Benjamin Kelly skilled medical misery whereas housed at Rikers’ Eric M. Taylor Middle (EMTC) jail whereas James Maldonado sustained a medical emergency throughout bus transport to the island, in accordance with the DOC. Each males have been pronounced lifeless inside a two-hour span.
“The life of each single individual in our care is valued and Friday was profoundly tragic for the division as two people misplaced their lives,” stated DOC Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie in a press release. “Our deepest sympathies are with their family members. These incidents will likely be investigated totally.”
The Authorized Support Society, which represented Maldonado, says his attorneys stay in the dead of night about particulars surrounding his dying. The 56-year-old was getting into custody for the primary time after a hospital discharge, in accordance with the DOC.
“Presently, we’ve acquired little info from DOC relating to the circumstances surrounding Mr. Maldonado’s dying, which occurred shortly after his arraignment,” a Authorized Support spokesperson wrote in a press release. “Usually, DOC fails to offer even probably the most primary particulars to counsel, the consumer’s household, or the general public. This ongoing lack of transparency is unacceptable.
“We name for an instantaneous and unbiased investigation by the New York Metropolis Division of Investigation to make sure that each DOC and the New York Metropolis Police Division — the place Mr. Maldonado spent nearly all of his detention — are held accountable and supply solutions to his family members and the general public.”
Transportation from courtroom appearances stays a key difficulty addressed by town’s beleaguered makes an attempt to switch Rikers Island with 4 borough-based jails positioned close by (and overwhelmingly linked to) town’s municipal courthouses by late summer season 2027.
Earlier this month, councilmembers Carlina Rivera, Gale Brewer, Yusef Salaam, Shaun Abreu, Carmen De La Rosa and Diana Ayala signed a letter to Mayor Eric Adams calling for the Manhattan jail to be accomplished as quickly as attainable on the present plot subsequent to the New York County Prison Courtroom in Chinatown.
“Because it stands, the fashionable jail set to switch the Tombs is not going to open till 2032, 5 years after the authorized deadline to shut Rikers,” wrote the council members. “Any change would additional delay and imperil the closure of Rikers, an final result that’s inconsistent with the regulation and our ethical obligation as a metropolis. The plan to shut Rikers was handed into regulation as a result of housing people who find themselves awaiting trial on an island remoted from the courts and their communities, and amid harmful situations, is as incorrect as it’s inefficient.
“Implementing the plan to shut Rikers, together with making the required investments in prevention and diversion, will enhance the security and well-being of New York Metropolis residents and guests.”
This letter follows reporting by the Amsterdam Information of Chinatown advocates proposing the relocation of the Manhattan jail to a defunct federal facility a couple of blocks south in favor of an inexpensive housing construction on the present demolished lot.
Whereas town figures out methods to meet the legally-required closure of Rikers Island, a federal receiver will likely be appointed later within the yr to supervise metropolis jails to make sure they adjust to constitutional requirements enforced by a category motion lawsuit almost a decade in the past.
On the state stage, a prison justice reform “omnibus” invoice handed and consists of laws bolstering the State Fee of Correction (SCOC), an unbiased watchdog company with oversight powers over native jails throughout New York like these on Rikers Island.
