Tracking the Deaths in New York City's Jail System

[BeckyDem]

A sixth man has died in 2023 after being held on Rikers Island. The previous year was the deadliest in nearly a decade.


By Jan Ransom and Jonah E. Bromwich
July 18, 2023

A city jails detainee died on July 15, the third death this month and the sixth incarcerated person to die in city custody in 2023.

The detainee, William Johnstone, 47, was found unresponsive in his cell on Saturday afternoon and died at a hospital about two hours later, according to New York City’s Department of Correction.

Long besieged by a multitude of problems, Rikers Island and the city’s other jail facilities have been engulfed in violence and disorder since 2020, when an outbreak of Covid among correction officers hurt morale and led to chronic staff absenteeism. With so few guards showing up for work, some detainees have been forced to go without food or medical care.

Nineteen people died in city jails in 2022 even as officials rushed to implement reforms to stave off the threat of a federal court takeover.
https://www.nytimes.com/article/rikers-deaths-jail.html


( It's about time. )

Link to tweet

[Elessar Zappa]

1. Our whole system of incarceration

needs to have a huge revamp. Our prisons and jails are a disgrace.

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R