Two die on Rikers, seventh and eight this year
/
Anibal Carrasquillo, an incarcerated person on Rikers Island, died on Monday, June 20, becoming the seventh person this year to die while in custody in the jail complex. A day later, a second detainee died, becoming the eighth death in custody this year. File photo via Freedom Agenda
By Jacob Kaye
For the seventh and eighth times this year, two people detained on Rikers Island died while in Department of Correction custody on Monday and Tuesday.
Little information is known about the death of Anibal Carrasquillo, a 40-year-old man who was pronounced dead at 1:31 a.m., on Monday, June 20, inside the George R. Vierno Center, the Rikers Island facility where he was being held, according to the DOC.
A day later, on Tuesday, a second person whose name has not been released, died inside Bellevue Hospital's Prison Ward around 11:30 a.m.
Investigations into both deaths are ongoing, the agency said. As is the case in all DOC deaths, the State Attorney General’s Office and the New York City Department of Investigation will conduct their own investigations of the incidents.
The DOC’s original announcement of Carrasquillo’s death made Monday did not include Carrasquillo’s name, which was withheld pending communication with his family.
“We are saddened to hear of the passing of Mr. Carrasquillo. Our thoughts are with his family and loved ones,” DOC Commissioner Louis Molina said in a statement. “Every person in our custody is someone’s son, daughter, brother or sister, and it is an especially heartbreaking tragedy to learn that a loved one has passed away while incarcerated.”
Carrasquillo first entered Rikers Island in September 2019 on first degree robbery and 18 other charges. He was being held on Rikers on $50,000 cash bond.
In the nearly three years since he was first sent to Rikers, Carrasquillo made 33 appearances in Kings County Criminal Court.
As of May, Carrasquillo was one of nearly 370 people held on Rikers awaiting trial for between 2 to 3 years, according to the DOC.
Around 870 people had been held for 1 to 2 years and 274 had been awaiting trial for three or more years, according to the agency.
An October report from the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice found that detainees were being held 88 days longer than before the start of the pandemic on average.
The report pointed to slow downs in the courts brought on by the pandemic and the staffing crisis within the DOC.
According to the report, staffing shortages on Rikers Island have led to fewer detainees being transported to court appearances, which has led to fewer trial hearings in felony cases and fewer depositions, which then causes delays in proceedings and causes cases to take longer to complete.
“The impact of COVID-19 led to the near shutdown of court proceedings for months,” the report read. “Yet the number and proportion of defendants held in custody by the City's Department of Correction that are making their scheduled court appearances remains a fraction of the levels seen pre-pandemic.”
The staffing crisis was at the center of a recent push to bring Rikers Island and the city’s management of the jail complex under federal control through a receivership.
Dating back to the summer of last year, thousands of uniformed correctional officers have been out each day on either sick leave, medical monitoring or because they have gone AWOL. The absences have been a major contributing factor in a majority of in-custody deaths to occur this year, according to a recent report from the Board of Correction, the oversight body of the DOC.
Last year, 16 incarcerated people died while in DOC custody, marking an eight-year high. Prior to Carrasquillo and the unnamed detainee’s deaths, six people had died while in custody this year.
Citing the recent deaths and what they said was a lack of change in conditions in the jail complex in recent years, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams and attorneys from the Legal Aid Society, which represents a class of incarcerated people on Rikers in the case that created the Rikers federal monitor, called on federal Judge Laura Swain to implement a federal receivership in April.
In response, Swain ordered the city to collaborate with the federal monitoring team, led by Steve J. Martin, to craft an action plan, which details specific goals and actions to take in an effort to quell the violence and dysfunction on Rikers Island as quickly as possible.
The city submitted the plan earlier this month and last week, Swain accepted the plan and denied the request to institute a receivership, which could have seen the management of Rikers Island taken over by a federal authority.
Darren Mack, the co-director of nonprofit Freedom Agenda, called on the city to work to decarcerate the jail facilities following the seventh in custody death this year and Swain’s decision to deny the installation of a receivership.
“As the Department of Correction generates plans to create plans, New Yorkers continue to suffer and die in their custody,” Mack said in a statement. “Rikers should have closed long ago, and by now, judges, prosecutors, and all elected officials know that no one is safe there.”
The sentiment was echoed by Campaign Zero founder DeRay McKesson, who called on Swain to reconsider a federal receivership as soon as possible – the city has until the fall to prove that it’s sticking to its action plan.
“The Department of Correction couldn’t fulfill its most basic obligations even in the 17 days it was given to revise its last plan,” McKesson said in a statement. “This result raises serious questions about how many more deaths our system is willing to accept before making serious changes.”
“DOC has run out of chances,” he added. “As advocates including Legal Aid Society have argued, the only real step forward is to install a federal receiver - and put responsibility in the hands of someone who can cut through red tape, make systemic reforms, and keep New Yorkers safe in custody. We urge Judge Swain to reconsider receivership and allow the Legal Aid Society to file its motion.”
