Rikers detainee dies after guards ignored plea for medical attention, attys say
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A 23-year-old Rikers detainee died on Sunday after a medical issue allegedly went ignored by Department of Correction staff. AP file photo by Bebeto Matthews
By Jacob Kaye
A 23-year-old Rikers Island detainee died Sunday night after experiencing a medical emergency that her attorneys say went ignored by jail staff.
Charizma Jones, who was serving a sentence on Rikers Island for a slashing she committed in Manhattan last year, was taken to Elmhurst Hospital last week after a medical issue she had allegedly complained about to officers quickly got worse.
After entering the hospital with the serious illness, a judge ordered her release from custody without bail. Four days later, Jones died.
Jones’ death was first reported by the Daily News on Tuesday.
Because Jones died in the hospital after being released from Department of Correction custody, the agency did not announce her death and will not count it in its official death tally.
The DOC did not respond to a request for comment before print time.
Jones is the fourth person to die in DOC custody or shortly after being released from it this year and the 32nd person to die since Mayor Eric Adams took office at the start of 2022.
“Words cannot express our sadness and outrage over the sudden death of Charizma Jones, who was just 23 years old when she passed away Sunday night following her release from DOC custody,” the Legal Aid Society, which was representing Jones, said in a statement.
According to Jones’ attorneys, the 23-year-old “was repeatedly denied initial care by DOC staff” after experiencing a medical emergency.
The Legal Aid Society called for an investigation into Jones’ death and for the suspension of any staffers or officers involved in the lead up to the incident.
“The circumstances surrounding Ms. Jones’ death warrants transparency and an expeditious and independent investigation,” they said. “We demand that any correction officers who blocked her access to medical care face immediate suspension, and DOC must preserve all evidence – including recent camera footage – that exists of Ms. Jones during her time in custody.”
“With each of these tragedies, City Hall and DOC leadership routinely deny defense counsel, the client’s family, and the general public the most basic information on exactly what transpired,” the Legal Aid Society added. “This is cruel and unacceptable, and DOC must be held accountable for their actions in Ms. Jones’ final hours.”
Earlier this month, the Eagle reported that the family of a Bayside man, Donny Ubiera, who died on Rikers Island in August, claimed in a lawsuit that the DOC wrongly withheld information about the man’s death from them.
Ubiera’s family said in the lawsuit filed in mid-June that the DOC had illegally denied their requests for records related to Ubiera’s death. The Ubieras claim that the city agency didn’t follow the proper Freedom of Information law procedures after they denied the family’s request for a number of documents and videos that may shed light on the moments leading up to Ubiera’s death.
Ubiera, the eighth person to die in DOC custody last year, was found unresponsive in his cell around 5 a.m. on Aug. 22, 2023 after allegedly overdosing on methadone that he bought from another detainee being held in his housing area.
But details about the hours leading up to his death remain unclear.
According to reporting by City & State, other detainees being held in cells near the one Ubiera was being held in heard the Bayside man screaming for help around 1:30 a.m., claiming that he couldn’t breathe. However, no officers responded to his pleas or bangs on his cell door, the outlet reported. He wasn’t found by officers for another three and a half hours.
The agency account of Ubiera’s death does not include details about Ubiera’s calls for help, according to a report by the Board of Correction, the DOC’s oversight body.
