Ben Brachfeld, via AMNY
A person detained on Rikers Island became the fifth person held in city jails to die this year, passing away at a Queens hospital Tuesday morning after an apparent medical episode.
The Department of Correction said that Anthony Jordan, 63, was rushed from the jail complex’s North Infirmary Command to Mount Sinai Queens Hospital in Astoria at 5:22 a.m., suffering medical distress. He could not be saved and was pronounced dead at 6:19 a.m.
The death is under investigation by the Correction Department, and outside entities including the Rikers federal monitor were notified.
“On behalf of the New York City Department of Correction, we extend our deepest condolences to Mr. Jordan’s loved ones and wish them peace during this difficult time,” said Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie.
This is the fifth death to take place this year among those detained at the troubled city lockup, and the thirty-third since Eric Adams became mayor in 2022.
The rash of deaths of those in city custody has led the federal government to mull stripping the city of control over its jails more seriously than ever before this year. Last year, the Department of Justice asked a judge to appoint a federal receiver to oversee the jails’ operations.
The judge, Laura T. Swain, has thus far resisted appointing a receiver, even as the federal monitor Steve Martin says the jails “remain dangerous and unsafe, characterized by a pervasive, imminent risk of harm to both people in custody and staff.”
“What’s happening at Rikers is a horrible nonstop disaster,” said Melanie Dominguez, organizing director at the Katal Center for Equity, Health, & Justice. “And Mayor Adams is working to make it worse by sending more Black, brown, and low-income people to the deadly jail complex.”
