Teen’s suicide attempt raises questions about safety of young adult detainees
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Nicholas Feliciano (right, with his grandmother), an 18-year-old Queens resident, is in critical condition after a suicide attempt inside the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island. Photo via the Legal Aid Society.
By David Brand
A teen’s suicide attempt in a Rikers Island holding cell, reportedly ignored by correction officers, is raising questions about how the city detains young adults, especially people with mental illness.
Nicholas Feliciano, an 18-year-old Queens resident, was arrested for a technical parole violation on Nov. 19. He was detained inside the George R. Vierno Center, even though 18 year olds are usually detained inside another Rikers jail, the Robert N. Davoren Complex.
Late last week, Feliciano was beaten by a group of other detainees and placed in a holding cell for hours, instead of being transported to a medical unit. Feliciano began to act erratically inside the cell, his behavior captured on jail cameras, according to people familiar with the contents of the video. He then attempted to hang himself from a pipe with a piece of clothing while guards reportedly watched for up to seven minutes before taking action.
As of Thursday morning, Feliciano remained in a medically induced coma with limited brain functioning at Elmhurst Hospital. He experienced a setback the previous night and remained in critical condition, said a person familiar with his treatment.
Retired Judge Bryanne Hamill, a former Board of Correction commissioner, questioned the decision to place Feliciano in GRVC, citing a 2015 “Young Adult Plan” directive from the Board, which sets minimum standards for city jails.
"My first question is why was he in GRVC?” Hamill said. “The whole idea of the young adult plan is that all the staff who would be caring for and supervising the young people would have special training for working with young adults — understanding their brain development and mental health needs."
The Board’s 2015 directive mandated that the Department of Correction house young adults below age 22 “separate and apart” from older detainees. But over the years, DOC has resisted full implementation of the young adult plan and has received several variances to delay the measure.
Units for young adults between ages 18 and 21 are supposed to include additional services for detainees, but young adults often fail to access those services, including mental health appointments. By the end of 2018, young adult detainees were missing about half of their mental health appointments, according to data published by the Board of Correction.
The Board’s young adult directive came after a 2015 federal consent decree regarding the detention of people 19 and under. The decree stated that “young inmates shall be supervised at all times in a manner that protects them from an unreasonable risk of harm.”
Feliciano was detained in a young adult unit at GRVC, but the ages of the detainees who assaulted him remain unclear. The DOC declined to comment on a pending investigation.
“It is truly horrifying to think that in this day and age, with everything that is being done, we still have our city corrections department failing our young people that come in with mental health problems,” Hamill said.
The Correction Officers Benevolent Association did not respond to calls seeking comment about the response by guards, but COBA President Elias Husamudeen told the Daily News that the “officers will be given the best legal representation possible to ensure their rights are fully protected under the law.”
The Legal Aid Society, which represents Feliciano, said he has had a history of mental health issues and suicide attempts.
Feliciano’s suicide attempt, and staff’s delayed response, “underscores [DOC’s] inability to safeguard the youngest people in its custody,” Legal Aid said in a statement. “It represents a colossal failure of supervision and leadership, one for which we demand answers before another New Yorker leaves the New York City jails in critical condition.”
More than 370 people have died, including 42 by suicide, in New York City jails since 2001, mostly on Rikers Island, according to data obtained by the Eagle from the Department of Corrections and the state Correctional Association of New York. The number of suicides peaked at 6 in 2003. One person has died by suicide in New York City jails in the past three years.
Suicide prevention is taught at the Correction Academy, the DOC said, and the city has decreased the jail suicide rate to well below the national average. The city has also embarked on a plan to close Rikers Island jails by 2026 and open four new facilities, which proponents say would help staff better address mental health issues experienced by incarcerated New Yorkers.
Nevertheless, the city has struggled to adequately assist and treat people with mental illness behind bars, Hamill told the Eagle in October.
“A lot of our seriously mentally ill people belong in a hospital or a psychiatric institution. They're too ill to be in a jail,” Hamill added. “Why are they being placed in Rikers in the first place?”
