NYC Department of Correction (DOC) officials said a person in custody at the North Infirmary Command (NIC), part of Rikers Island detention center, has died, marking the first death of a person in DOC custody in 2023.

 

The news was confirmed by department officials on Saturday, Feb. 4 at around 11.20 a.m. “Marvin Pines, 65, who was in custody at the North Infirmary Command (NIC) passed away on 2/4/23,” a DOC official said. “Mr. Pines was pronounced dead at NIC at approx. 6.18 a.m. this morning.”

 

Reacting to the news, DOC Commissioner Louis A. Molina said, “Any death in custody is a tragedy. We sincerely send our deepest condolences and sympathy to this individual’s family and loved ones.” He added, “As with all deaths in custody, we are working with our partner agencies to conduct a full investigation.”

 

DOC officials added that the cause of death was under investigation with confirmation pending from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. They added, “Mr. Pines entered DOC custody on Aug. 3, 2022 on a 3rd degree criminal sale of a controlled substance charge.”

 

Though the latest death constitutes the first in DOC custody this year, last year, 19 people who had been detained at Rikers Island died, 17 while in custody, according to DOC. According to city officials, Antonio Bradley was compassionately released on June 15, 2022, and passed away at a local hospital on June 18, 2022, while Elmore Robert Pondexter was compassionately released on Sept. 22, 2022, and passed away at a local hospital on Sept. 23, 2022.

 

According to DOC, compassionate release cannot be granted by DOC but is granted by the court. DOC officials said if a person is compassionately released from DOC’s custody and dies in a City hospital, the death is reported by Correctional Health Services (CHS). DOC officials said all deaths in custody are first investigated by the State Attorney General and the Department of Investigation.

 

On Jan. 26, survivors of Rikers Island prison, impacted families of detainees, faith leaders, and allies held a rally in Queens to demand decarceration and the closure of the City jail ahead of Mayor Eric Adams’ State of the City address. Participants comprised Members of the Campaign to Close Rikers, including Freedom Agenda, Bronx Connect, Legal Action Center, Mental Health Project – Urban Justice Center, National Association for Mental Illness NYC, Osborne Association, CASES, and Corporation for Supportive Housing

 

The participants said at the time that they were calling on the mayor to deliver on what they said was his legal and moral obligation to close Rikers Island. They called on Adams to pursue strategic investments and initiatives to safely reduce the jail population (like funding supportive housing and community based treatment) and move forward decisively with implementing the plan, approved in 2019, to close the Rikers jails and replace what they called New York City’s existing but decrepit borough jails.

 

Rev. Wendy Calderón-Payne, executive director of Urban Youth Alliance (BronxConnect) said at the time, “In the past two years, there have been 35 needless deaths on Rikers; thirty-five human beings. This is a symptom of a larger issue: Rikers is a broken institution. As a city, we need to move in unison towards a goal to decarcerate and provide much needed services that further rehabilitation and community well-being. There is a workable plan in motion that we cannot afford to divert from.”

 

Meanwhile, Daniele Gerard, senior staff attorney at Children’s Rights said, “Incarcerated persons continue to die on Rikers, officers are still not showing up for work, and people have been going without showers or food and are left in their cells for hours on end.” She added, “Young adults are particularly susceptible to these stressors of confinement. This is no way to treat our fellow New Yorkers, especially at a yearly cost per person of more than $500,000. Rikers must be closed, community resources ramped up and fully funded, and decarceration begun in earnest.”

 

For his part, Five Mualimm-ak of Incarcerated Nation Network, a survivor and prior detainee of Rikers Island, spoke of the constant deaths and traumatic destruction that happens to people while detained “from the disease called violence to the end result called punishment.” He said people in custody suffer from a reliance upon survival needs and tactics. “Restorative justice is dismantling the underlying issues that cause violence,” he said.

 

Last year, as 2022 drew to a close, DOC officials said the department had continued with improvements to safety, security, and operations in DOC facilities. They said key indicators were showing progress in staffing levels and a reduction in violence. They added that since the beginning of 2022, the department had seen improvement in the following safety and security indicators:

 

• Assaults on uniformed staff that involved a use of force decreased by 28.4 percent through December 29, 2022, compared to 2021.
• Assaults on uniformed staff without the use of force or serious injury decreased by 44.7 percent through December 29, 2022, compared to 2021.
• Use of force incidents were down 14.4 percent through December 29, 2022, compared to 2021.

 

DOC officials said that searches of all kinds recovered over 5,000 weapons and over 1,300 drug contraband as of December 2022, adding that a major contributor of weapon and drug contraband seized were recovered because the department restarted Tactical Search Operations (TSOs) at the end of February 2022.

 

DOC officials added that the department had dramatically increased the use of TSOs to combat contraband— from one TSO in 2021 to 86 approximately by December 2022. They said more weapons were recovered within the first ten months of 2022 than yearly totals for each calendar year between 2018-2021.

Molina said the department officials were proud of the work they had done over the past year and remained laser-focused on reversing what was described as decades of neglect, investing in staff, and implementing common-sense reforms to improve the jails. “We are now seeing substantial results through our efforts,” Molina said.

 

As reported, a DOC captain and three officers were charged with reckless endangerment of a Rikers Island inmate in July 2022. The defendants were due back in court in September. We are following up with the Bronx District Attorney’s office on the status of the case.

 

In the context of last month’s rally, meanwhile, Kimberly Blair, director of policy at the National Alliance on Mental Illness of New York City (NAMI-NYC) asked, “How many New Yorkers with mental health challenges must die before we realize Rikers is a broken system beyond repair?” She continued, “We need our City to invest in more robust community mental health programs, a peer-led crisis response, and mental health court treatment programs— not jail. 19 New Yorkers died at Rikers last year and countless more face increased risk of suicide after experiencing incarceration, especially solitary confinement. End these senseless deaths, and close Rikers now.”

 

Department officials said they remain committed to creating a safer and more humane environment for all who work and live in our jails. In reference to last year’s improvements, Molina said, “The marked progress we are making is moving this agency forward into becoming a safer and more humane place for all those in our care and who work here and where operations are firmly rooted in only the best correctional practices. While there is still a long way to go and we are mindful that longstanding issues which pre-date this administration will take time to resolve, we are headed in the right direction.”