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Twelve people have died after being held in New York’s troubled prison system this year, even as officials rushed to implement reforms to avert the looming threat of a federal court takeover.
On August 15, Ricardo Cruciani, 68, became the latest to die at the Rikers Island prison complex, succumbing to an apparent suicide attempt after he was found guilty of multiple sexual assault charges last month. Although his lawyer called for him to be placed on suicide watch, Mr Cruciani was found with a sheet around his neck and died about an hour later, prison documents show.
Long beset by intractable problems, Rikers has been engulfed in violence and unrest since 2020, when a massive coronavirus outbreak among correctional officers damaged morale and led to chronic staff absences. With so few guards showing up for work, some detainees have been forced to go without food or medical care. Sixteen people died in the prison system in 2021, the most since 2013. This year the numbers are on track to be higher.
Mayor Eric Adams and his prison commissioner, Luis A. Molina, have vowed to implement a reform plan that was ordered and approved earlier this year by a federal judge. But attorneys for the inmates said the city is unable to keep detainees safe and called for an outside watchdog to take control of the jails.
The following list of those who died after being held in the prison system this year was compiled from Department of Corrections records and interviews with city officials and attorneys and friends and family members of the deceased. This shows that most of the dead were men and that they were overwhelmingly black or Hispanic, reflecting Rikers’ population.
race: White
Gender: Male
Cause of death: Suspected suicide
Prison: Eric M. Taylor Center
Date of arrest: Mr. Cruciani was admitted to Rikers on July 29 after being convicted at trial.
The Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to questions about Mr. Cruciani’s death or whether he had been placed on suicide watch, as requested by his lawyer, Frederick Sosinski, and the judge presiding over his trial. After his death, Mr Sosinski called for an inquest and said that to his knowledge his client had never been placed under surveillance for suicide.
Mr. Molina, the commissioner of the Department of Corrections, said in a statement that he was “deeply saddened to learn of this man’s death in custody.” He said the department would review the death.
Mr. Cruciani was held in a general residence that was understaffed, according to an official familiar with the matter who, like some others interviewed about the deaths this year, spoke on condition of anonymity because the person did not was authorized to discuss this publicly.
A second employee said Mr. Cruciani entered the shower area at 4:23 a.m. and was found unresponsive at 5:35 a.m. by an employee supervising the apartment unit.
The Rikers Island crisis
Amid the pandemic and staffing emergency, New York’s main prison complex is embroiled in an ongoing crisis.
July 15 — Michael Lopez, 34
race: Multiracial
Gender: Male
Cause of death: Suspected overdose
Prison: Anna M. Cross Center
Date of arrest: May 18, 2022
Lopez, 34, was being held on $2,500 bail on burglary charges in Manhattan. Mr. Lopez had six open cases in Manhattan, including three burglaries from the same Target, three burglaries from the same Duane Reade and one assault case, records show.
Mr. Lopez suffered from schizophrenia and struggled with drug addiction, his mother, Jenny Rosario-Megibow, 64, said in a recent interview. During his last stay at Rikers, Ms. Rosario-Megibow said her son never received any of the four medications he was taking for his mental illness, and she believed he overdosed in an attempt to is self-healing.
“He was kept in an observation unit charged with ensuring his safety, but he was still deprived of the services he needed and deserved,” the Legal Aid Society, which represents Mr Lopez, said in a statement. “If Mr. Lopez had been spared detention, he would be connected to programming and alive today.”
A spokesman for the Department of Corrections said the department offered its condolences to Mr. Lopez’s family and that the incident was under investigation.
race: black
Gender: Male
Cause of death: Suspected overdose
Prison: George R. Vierno Center
Date of arrest: June 8, 2022
Mr. Mohammed, who was being held at the complex on assault charges, appeared to have lain dead in his cell for hours before his body was discovered by prison officials, according to two people familiar with the matter. The delay led to the immediate firing of one recruit and the suspension of others, one of the people said.
Mr. Mohammed was being treated for schizophrenia, according to one of the people familiar with his case. In the days before he died, he spent more than 32 hours in solitary confinement before being returned to a regular cell, a violation of department rules against holding detainees in so-called de-escalation units for more than six hours at a time. While in the isolation cell, Mr. Mohammed did not have a bed or access to medical care, the person said.
race: black
Gender: Male
Cause of death: Unknown
Prison: Eric M. Taylor Center
Date of arrest: May 17, 2022
Mr Dry died in the infirmary at Bellevue Prison, according to the Legal Aid Society, which represented him. He was being held on assault, harassment and weapons charges in Manhattan and the Bronx and was seriously ill with an unspecified illness and hospitalized several weeks before his death.
Before he was hospitalized, he was being held at the Eric M. Taylor Center, where new detainees are evaluated before being booked into jail.
race: Multiracial
Gender: Male
Cause of death: Suspected overdose
Prison: George R. Vierno Center
Date of arrest: September 27, 2019
Mr. Carrasquillo was being held on $50,000 bail on charges including robbery, drug possession and assault. He was last seen alive shortly after 10pm on Sunday, a person familiar with the incident said. Shortly before 1 a.m. Monday, a prison guard found him unresponsive in his cell.
Mr. Carrasquillo’s wife, Shenica Bryant Carrasquillo, 31, criticized New York authorities for neglecting him. “He was under your care,” she said in an interview. “He should have been protected and he wasn’t.”
A Department of Corrections spokesman said the department offered its condolences to Mr. Carracillo’s family and that the incident was under investigation.
race: black
Gender: Male
Cause of death: Suicide
Prison: N/A
Date of arrest: October 13, 2021
Antonio Bradley died three days after being compassionately released at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, corrections officials said. Because he was released from custody before his death, the city does not include him in its official count of deaths in custody this year.
Mr. Bradley, who had been held in a mental ward at Rikers, used his sweater to hang himself in his court cell after a hearing in Bronx Criminal Court. A person familiar with his death said he had been hanging for several minutes before prison officials noticed him and that by then he was brain dead. He died days later.
race: black
Gender: Male
Cause of death: Unknown
Prison: Robert N. Davoren Center
Date of arrest: February 7, 2022
Mr. Sullivan was found in his bed by a corrections officer, according to the Department of Corrections. He is being held on a charge of second-degree murder and a charge of first-degree robbery, records show. Corrections officials said the housing area where Mr. Sullivan died was staffed and that rounds were conducted by corrections officers throughout the day. Little additional information about his death has come to light.
race: black
Gender: Female
Cause of death: Suspected overdose
Prison: Rose M. Singer Center
Date of arrest: February 11, 2022
Mary Yehuda, 31, was awaiting trial on robbery charges when she was found inert in her cell. She was taken to Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, but died the next morning. Ms. Yehuda’s lawyers said they had been trying to get her into a drug treatment program.
race: black
Gender: Male
Cause of death: Suspected suicide
Prison: Anna M. Cross Center
Date of arrest: May 7, 2022
Mr. Carter was found hanging from a window in his cell just two days after he was transferred back to Rikers from a state mental hospital, according to a person familiar with the circumstances of his death.
When Mr. Carter was returned to Rikers on Thursday, mental health officials at the jail allowed him to be held in a general housing area known as Quad Upper 12, according to the person familiar with his case. Mr. Carter was later found collapsed near his bed about 5 p.m. that Saturday, said Joseph Russo, president of the union representing deputy wardens and assistant deputy wardens.
Mr. Carter was charged with first-degree robbery and third-degree burglary, officials said.
Competition: a Spaniard
sex: Male
Cause of death: Suffocation
Prison: Eric M. Taylor Center
Date of arrest: February 22, 2022
Mr. Diaz’s death was detailed in a report by the city’s Board of Corrections, a prison watchdog group. According to the report, Mr. Diaz choked on an orange and was not assisted by a prison officer who was on shift duty and was not allowed to interact directly with people in custody.
Mr. Diaz was taken to the medical clinic by other detainees and pronounced dead by medical personnel at 10:58 a.m., about 40 minutes after he began to suffocate.
race: a spanish
Gender: Male
Cause of death: Sepsis complicated by substance use and HIV infection.
Prison: Eric M. Taylor Center
Date of arrest: March 9, 2022
Apparently ill, Mr Pagan “regularly urinated, defecated and vomited on himself” during his nine days in custody, the Board of Corrections report said.
Despite his condition, he was allowed to miss nine scheduled medical examinations in six days and was housed in a general population housing area where he was offered no food or drink other than that provided to him by other detainees. It is unclear if his condition was called by a correctional officer, but other inmates eventually carried him out of the unit to receive medical attention. He is survived by a sister and a brother.
race: black
Gender: Male
Cause of death: Overdose
Prison: George R. Vierno Center
Date of arrest: September 5, 2021
Mr. Youngblood was in another person’s cell—it wasn’t clear why—when he became unresponsive. Other detainees carried him down a flight of stairs and tried to give him medical attention, the corrections board report said.
Video footage showed that correctional officers did not conduct rounds at required intervals in the hours before Mr. Youngblood’s death. He is survived by his domestic partner, their three children, his mother, stepmother and stepsister.
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