NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — The siblings of a 42-year-old man in a wheelchair who died of COVID-19 at Rikers during the height of the pandemic are suing the city for insufficient safety procedures and negligent medical care.
Isa-Abdul Karim was held for 33 days at the notorious prison for a “technical parole violation.” He died from COVID complications gasping for air and begging indifferent staff for help on Sept. 19, 2021, according to legal documents obtained by the New York Post.
Karim was the 11th of 15 inmates to die in Department of Correction custody or shortly after release in 2021. That number climbed to 19 deaths in 2022.
The lawsuit claims he contracted COVID in a holding cell with dozens of other unmasked detainees.
“As the COVID-19 pandemic raged inside the jails on Rikers Island, incarcerated people were forced to live in a medieval hellscape of disease, violence, and filth with little access to the basic necessities of life and deficient medical care,” reads the lawsuit.
Rikers has been plagued with reports of unsanitary conditions, unchecked violence, overcrowding and chronic absenteeism among staff.
The Legal Aid Society and New York City Comptroller Brad Lander have called for a federal judge to appoint a receivership to take control of the prison away from the DOC in order to force reforms and end the human rights abuses there.
This lawsuit is the latest in a string of legal action taken against the DOC for conditions at Rikers.
In November, the city agreed to pay as much as $300 million for illegally delaying the releases of Rikers prisoners. In October, the city settled a $9.2 million lawsuit from a former detainee who was brutally beaten as Rikers guards watched and refused to intervene.
This lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages for Karim’s alleged wrongful death.
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