Officials are investigating how one New York correctional facility has had ten deaths over the last seven months, questioning why certain protocols were not followed when disciplining inmates, compromising and sometimes violating their civil rights.
The recent death of a Black man left in isolation longer than the state mandate has caused some prison stakeholders to believe there is a significant pattern of neglect by staffers when working with those who are imprisoned.
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On Sunday, July 10, Elijah Muhammad died while in custody in Rikers Island, the world’s largest penal colony, around 9:45 p.m. from a suspected drug overdose. Records show the 31-year-old man was placed in jail in June after being arrested on an assault charge, the Daily News reports.
The New York Times reports that an anonymous source, alleged earlier on the day of his death, Muhammad appeared to be disoriented and was unable to walk. It is also alleged that he was dead for hours in his cell before authorities found his cold body.
Records also reveal that Muhammad, less than a week prior to his premature death, was locked in an isolated de-escalation unit for over 30 hours, five times longer than permitted by the recently adopted policy, according to a Board of Corrections member for New York City.
Anisah Sabur of the #HALTsolitary Campaign lamented the tragedy, saying, “It’s just really sad that [the Correction Department] can’t keep people alive. This gentleman died in a cage on a holy day as a Muslim.”
The holy day, according to the Islamic Calendar, is Eid al-Adha, which is technically on Saturday, July 9. This day is to honors the willingness of Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his son Ismail (Ishmael) as an act of obedience to Allah’s command.
According to this allowance, proposed by the New York City Board of Correction in March of 2021, those who are placed in solitary confinement because they have acted out are to be taken to these de-escalation cells for a short cooling-down period, a maximum of six hours.
Other sources, like the United Nations Mandela Rules, state that prolonged solitary confinement, defining that period as longer than 15 days, should be labeled as human torture.
Robert Cohen, a BOC member, said during his Tuesday board meeting that while visiting the George R. Vierno Center, a jail within the Rikers Island complex, he met with Muhammad and two other detainees in unit 2B.
“When I visited there, there were three men, one was coming in, and two had been there for over 30 hours,” Cohen shared, remembering the meeting just five days before Muhammad transitioned.
“It is not clear from our review there had been any incidents that had brought them in,” he admitted. “They weren’t getting out of their cells at all. They weren’t getting their medication. And one of the men I talked to that day was Elijah Muhammad, who died on Sunday.”
