NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Rikers Island detainees are struggling without access to basic medical care, The Legal Aid Society claims in a new lawsuit filed in the Bronx Monday.
The litigation aims to force the Department of Corrections to provide health care to detainees or have those being kept in Rikers with serious medical conditions released from the facility. The lawsuit comes as Rikers Island grapples with a dire safety crisis, reporting that 12 detainees have died so far this year.
“New York City’s jails are in a full-blown humanitarian crisis, resulting in indescribable suffering and at least twelve deaths in 2021, including at least five people who died from suicide,” said Veronica Vela, Supervising Attorney with The Legal Aid Society Prisoners’ Rights project.
“DOC can no longer deprive our clients of their right to medical care, and if the Department is unable to guarantee that right, then the court must immediately consider releasing people,” Vela added.
The nonprofit filed the suit on behalf of four inmates who argue they have suffered from serious illness or injury without receiving required medical treatment.
One of the petitioners, a 23-year-old detainee identified as J.A., suffers from Asthma and injuries sustained before and during his arrest, which have kept him from walking without the assistance of a cane, according to the lawsuit.
The Legal Aid Society claims it took two weeks for J.A. to get an inhaler and that he has not received medical treatment or a health assessment for the entirety of his incarceration — even though he has been requesting medical attention every day for at least 10 days straight.
The increasingly disorderly conditions in the jail have inspired outraged elected officials to call for Rikers to be closed immediately. Mayor Bill de Blasio has criticized such calls as irrational, but has put forth a series of measures he hopes address the chaos within Rikers.
“Every minute, thousands of people are suffering in life-threatening conditions in New York City’s jails: people forced to sleep on floors covered in feces and urine, given food that is moldy or covered in maggots, wearing the same underwear for weeks at a time, confined inside without a breath of fresh air for months on end, the list of horrors goes on and on,” said Brooke Menschel, Director, Civil Rights and Law Reform at Brooklyn Defender Services, which joined the Legal Aid Society in the lawsuit.
The DOC didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
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