Rikers detainee dies of alleged medical emergency
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A Rikers Island detainee died in a Queens hospital on Tuesday after suffering an apparent medical emergency in the jails, the Department of Correction said. AP file photo by Julia Nikhinson
By Jacob Kaye
A man being held on Rikers Island died on Tuesday at a Queens hospital after suffering an apparent medical emergency.
Department of Correction officials said that Anthony Jordan, a 63-year-old man from Manhattan facing murder charges was taken from the jail complex around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday morning to Mount Sinai Hospital in Queens. The DOC did not explain the nature of Jordan’s medical emergency.
The detainee, who has been in DOC custody since April was pronounced dead in the hospital at 6:19 a.m.
Jordan was being held at Rikers’ North Infirmary Command, which mostly houses detainees with acute medical conditions or who have a disability that requires housing compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, before being rushed to the hospital.
A spokesperson for the DOC said that the agency had reported the death to the state attorney general’s office, the State Commission of Correction, the Department of Investigation, the Board of Correction, the local district attorney and the man’s lawyer. The agency also said it notified the federal monitor appointed by a federal judge around a decade ago to keep track of the violent conditions in the jail complex, where nearly 50 people have died dating back to the start of 2021.
Jordan’s death on Tuesday marks the fifth time this year a person has died either in the Department of Correction’s custody or after having just been released from it.
In July, Charizma Jones, a 23-year-old who had been held at the Rose M. Singer Center for months, died at New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. Jones, who had been allegedly suffering from an illness she may have contracted in Rikers, was not in DOC custody at the time of her death after a judge granted her release based on her condition. As a result, the typical investigations launched by the DOC and others into a detainee’s death were not launched.
However, the Legal Aid Society, which represented Jones, pushed officials to look into Jones’ death, which came on July 14.
According to the attorneys, medical records revealed that Jones was prevented by correctional officers from getting medical care in the final days of her detention despite a rash that had developed all over her body.
Over the course of two days in May, medical staff with Correctional Health Services were allegedly prevented by correctional officers from taking Jones’ vitals. It was during that time period that she was taken off the island and sent to a hospital.
Though she was treated at multiple hospitals, Jones’ condition allegedly did not appear to be improving. On July 10, over two months after she was transported off of Rikers Island, prosecutors in the Bronx agreed to allow a judge to release her from DOC custody. Jones died four days later.
In March, Roy Savage, a 51-year-old who had been transferred to city custody from a state prison as he awaited a new trial, died of cancer while being held at Bellevue Hospital. Savage spent the entirety of his time in DOC custody inside the hospital as he battled his terminal illness.
Two detainees died in January, including Manuel Luna, whose death was preceded by apparent warning signs and alleged violations of jail procedures, according to a report from the Board of Correction.
The events preceding Luna’s Jan. 19 death included missed medical appointments, broken protocol and troubling warning signs from the man struggling with mental health and addiction issues, according to the BOC.
The cause of his death is yet to be determined, though DOC officials originally attributed it to a medical crisis.
Luna’s death came about two weeks after the death of Chima Williams, the first detainee to die in 2024.
Williams, 43, died after allegedly collapsing after playing a game of basketball with a group of fellow detainees on Jan. 4.
In response to the Jordan’s death on Tuesday, advocates bashed the DOC and called on the city to work to expedite the jail complex’s closure, which is currently scheduled by law for August 2027 but has, over the past several years, seen major delays.
“Rikers has claimed another life, and yet another family is grieving today,” Darren Mack, the co-director of advocacy group Freedom Agenda, said in a statement. “And still, the Mayor continues his cruel campaign to arrest and jail more of neighbors, subject them to more abuse and neglect on Rikers, and stall its long-overdue closure.”
“Rikers is a grave risk to the life and safety of everyone there,” he added. “It’s past time for Mayor [Eric] Adams, district attorneys and judges to stop sending people to a known death camp, and take every necessary action to shut it down as the law requires.”
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who has become one of Adams’ most prominent opponents on public safety issues, also blamed the mayor for the detainee’s death, noting the administration refusal to implement a law introduced by Williams banning solitary confinement in the jails.
“This is the status quo on Rikers the mayor was so desperate to preserve that he refused to enforce the law banning solitary and the use of prolonged isolation, declaring a state of emergency to block it,” Williams said in a statement on Tuesday. “There has long been a crisis on Rikers, as today’s tragic loss shows, but the administration is relying on keeping that emergency in place, rather than acting to address it.”
