Detainee diagnosed with cancer dies in DOC custody
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A 60-year-old cancer stricken detainee died at Bellevue Hospital while in Department of Correction custody on Thursday, July 6. AP file photo by Seth Wenig
By Jacob Kaye
For the fifth time this year, a person in the custody of the New York City Department of Correction has died.
Ricky Howell, 60, died in Bellevue Hospital of a terminal illness on Thursday, July 6, only a couple of days after 40-year-old man became the fourth Rikers detainee to die this year.
Howell, who was charged in several burglary cases including one in Queens, was sent to Rikers Island in September, before later being transferred in February to Bellevue, where he died.
The 60-year-old, who was homeless, had already been diagnosed with terminal cancer at the time of arrest.
His attorneys with the Legal Aid Society said in a statement on Friday that because of his illness, Howell never should have been put in DOC custody.
“Mr. Howell was known for his kindness and charisma, and we are both saddened by his loss and angered by the collective indifference from the individuals who condemned Mr. Howell to live out his final days incarcerated rather than in the community,” the public defense firm said in a statement.
In June 2022, Howell, who was 59 at the time, pleaded guilty to a May 2021 burglary in Staten Island. He was told by a Staten Island judge at the time that should he stay out of trouble, the charge would be reduced to a misdemeanor and he would not be incarcerated.
However, Howell went on to miss a number of follow up court dates and allegedly commit two additional burglaries in Queens – one in July 2022 and the other in August 2022.
Records show that Howell was arrested for the Queens incidents in September and was soon after sent to appear before the judge in Staten Island.
Though his attorneys argued to keep him out of jail, Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon argued that Howell couldn’t be trusted to stay out of trouble, according to reporting by the Staten Island Advance.
“The fact remains that throughout the pendency of the initial case, the defendant has repeatedly violated the terms of his plea agreement, including repeated refusals to seek medical attention, and the commission of additional burglaries in Queens,” McMahon said, according to the outlet.
“We remain committed to prosecuting this case according to the facts, evidence, and the laws of our state, and hope that he gains the medical treatment he needs within the criminal justice system,” the DA added.
The judge agreed, and remanded Howell.
In their statement released on Friday, the Legal Aid Society condemned both the Staten Island DA’s office as well as the judges who oversaw Howell’s case.
“While we are heartened that Mr. Howell had a devoted care team at Bellevue Hospital who treated him with dignity and respect, the judges and prosecutors on Staten Island who vigorously fought to keep him jailed despite knowing full well his medical condition and imminent death, and that he posed no threat to public safety, is truly disgraceful, callous, and devoid of any human decency,” the Legal Aid Society said.
“This stunning lack of compassion and empathy brandished by Staten Island judges and prosecutors throughout this case is an all too common punitive quality of the criminal legal system that refuses to recognize our clients as human beings,” they added. “Our hearts ache for Mr. Howell’s friends, family and community during this extraordinarily tragic time.”
Howell was the second detainee to die in the past week, the fifth to die this year, the 24th to die since Mayor Eric Adams took office and the 40th to die dating back to the start of 2021, the year deaths on Rikers Island began to see a dramatic uptick.
“How many more people must Rikers kill before Mayor Adams takes action?” Freedom Agenda co-director Darren Mack said in a statement. “Time and again the Department of Correction demonstrates that it is incapable of protecting the lives and safety of those in its custody, and yet the mayor remains undeterred from his crusade to send more people into the death camp they operate.”
“He may not value the lives of incarcerated people, but we do,” Mack added. “We cannot allow the people in power to do nothing while our loved ones and community members suffer and die on Rikers. Every district attorney, judge, and city and state official must urgently act to decarcerate before Rikers claims another life, and move swiftly to shut it down.”
In the early hours of July 4, Felix Taveras died from an alleged overdose. He was being held in the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island and had been incarcerated in the jail dating back to March.
In total, four Rikers Island staff members were suspended for their lack of action in Taveras’ death.
Two correctional officers were suspended for not acting quickly once Taveras began to suffer from chest pains, an acting warden was suspended for initially arguing the correctional officers should not be punished and a corrections captain was suspended for not touring the housing area earlier in the evening, the Daily News reported.
Marvin Pines, a 65-year-old, became the first person to die in the jail complex this year after suffering a seizure while incarcerated in February.
His death led to the suspension of seven officers who the Board of Correction said failed to check on Pines during the emergency.
In May, Rubu Zhao, a 52-year-old, died after allegedly jumping from the second story of a mental health unit on Rikers. In the weeks after Zhao’s death, Steve Martin, the federal monitor appointed by a court to oversee conditions on Rikers, said that the man’s death was not properly reported.
Martin made the same accusations, and more, about the death of Joshua Valles, a 31-year-old detainee who also died in May.
Department of Correction officials initially said that Valles suffered a heart attack while being held on Rikers Island on May 20, and that he later died at Elmhurst Hospital on May 29. The embattled agency denied any wrongdoing in Valles’ death.
But according to a letter penned by Martin several days after the 31-year-old’s death, an autopsy found that Valles died of an apparent skull fracture.
