Fourth Rikers Inmate This Year Dies As Report Details Jail Failings

New York City NY

10 May, 2022

3:20 PM

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NEW YORK CITY — One Rikers Island inmate choked on an orange and turned blue as others banged on a window for help, to no avail. Another urinated, defecated and vomited on himself as he suffered alcohol withdrawal. Yet another wasn't checked for up to three hours, during which time fell unconscious. A searing new report released Tuesday detailed those circumstances behind the first three deaths at Rikers Island this year — and rebuked the Department of Correction for failing to properly supervise and monitor conditions in the troubled jail. And just days before the Board of Correction report's release, Dashawn Carter — a 25-year-old homeless man — became the fourth death in the jail complex. He was found hanging from a window in his cell, the New York Times reported. "[Rikers] is isolated in such a way that breeds unimaginable corruption and violence," said Eileen Maher and Bilal Malik, VOCAL-NY civil rights union leaders, in a joint statement. "Dashawn Carter should still be alive. If leadership doesn't get serious about decarceration, we are on track to see as many deaths on Rikers as we did in 2021." Carter's death and the report's release within days crystallized advocates' fears that Rikers Island remains dangerous, even deadly, for inmates. The report outlined issues that it called longstanding, present in our city's jails for years and, in some cases, decades," the report states. "There are common elements in all three deaths, which result in the Department of Correction's failure to provide minimally adequate coverage and supervision within housing areas in the city'sjails," the report states. The staffing shortfalls were vividly illustrated in the death of Herman Diaz, 52, on March 18, as laid out in the report. Diaz choked and collapsed while eating an orange, prompting other inmates to use the Heimlich maneuver, the report states. But even after they also turned him on his side and checked his mouth and throat, his lips turned blue, according to the report. Inmates knocked on a guard's window, but all the officer did was "reportedly" call a medical emergency to a clinic — which staff there denied receiving, the report states. "In the absence of a medical response, at approximately 10:20 the 'A' officer opened the unit's entrance gate to allow people in custody to carry Mr. Diaz to the clinic," the report states. "Along the way to the clinic, officers opened doors and gates to allow them passage to the clinic. None of the officers rendered first aid to Mr. Diaz." Doctors pronounced Diaz deceased at 10:58 a.m. — more than 30 minutes after he started choking, the report states. Read the full Board of Correction report here.