APNewsBreak: NYC Inmate 'Baked to Death' in Cell (Homeless Mentally Ill Veteran)

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

APNewsBreak: NYC Inmate 'Baked to Death' in Cell

NEW YORK March 19, 2014 (AP)
By JAKE PEARSON Associated Press

A New York City official tells The Associated Press that a mentally ill homeless veteran who died behind bars last month "essentially baked to death" in a jail cell that overheated to more than 100 degrees.

Fifty-six-year-old Jerome Murdough (muhr - DOH') had been charged with trespassing and placed in an observation unit for inmates with mental illnesses at Rikers Island.

Four city officials say Murdough, who took anti-psychotic and anti-seizure medication, apparently did not open a small vent to let cool air into his cell, as other inmates did. Officials also said he was not checked for hours, in violation of department protocol.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation by the city's Department of Correction.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/apnewsbreak-nyc-inmate-baked-death-cell-22968762

[gvstn]

1. This prison is a disgrace for a city like NYC

Has had a bad reputation for exactly this type of thing for years: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/05/america-10-worst-prisons-rikers-island-new-york-city

[mountain grammy]

2. Who did he kill? What did he do? He got torture and a death sentence.

for being sick. I think I'm going to be sick.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

13. Me too.

This is infuriating.

[Triana]

3. TRESPASSING? Seriously? Mentally ill, homeless veteran imprisoned for THAT?

And subsequently tortured and murdered?



What a DAMNED IMMORAL disgusting country this is. Seriously Gone. To. Hell. On a fast train. No handbasket.

This is a sign of a VERY sick society. And it's nothing to do with 'gays', or 'abortion' or lack of 'Gawd' in any schools or elsewhere. Those are distractions from real issues. Here we see a morally inexcusable consequence of too many people being misled by those distractions. Some things need to be reckoned with. I somehow doubt they ever will. The result is a veritable "Hell on Earth". And here we are.

[Ms. Toad]

4. Disgusting.

No one should ever be locked in a room which cannot be survived without human intervention (opening the window for ventilation).

[ForgoTheConsequence]

5. And we're suppose to be the moral police.

Disgusting.

[Blue Diadem]

6. over 100 degrees in Feb?

And how in the world is someone who is mentally ill and maybe never been in that facility before supposed to know to open a small vent?

[Blue_Tires]

9. In a lot of older urban buildings sadly,

the HVAC usually has two settings for winter: "95 degrees" and "off"...I went to an old Catholic school like that back in the day...And yes, in the dead of 20-degree winter, certain classrooms would have their windows wide open to equalize the room temperature...

[Rozlee]

7. Prison is the last refuge of the mentally ill.

I worked as a contract RN at the FCI in Beckley WV back in 1996 when they were just opening it up. We had a transfer inmate that was complaining of abdominal pain, weakness and that had lost almost 70 pounds in 6 months. Testing showed that he had a duodenal ulcer that was bleeding and was profoundly anemic. He had dangerous EKG changes and he certainly would have died of heart failure if he'd gone without medical intervention much longer. We couldn't understand how his transferring unit couldn't have noticed such a terribly sick man. The short answer is that they don't care.

[azurnoir]

8. Disgusting he died for the crime trespassing

[Fantastic Anarchist]

14. Land of the free ...

... and home ... well, you know the rest.

[otohara]

10. Disgraceful - Yet We Lecture The World

about moral values.

[yuiyoshida]

11. Meh...

Unbelievable. A death sentence for someone trespassing.

[jsr]

18. That's what it was.

[Uben]

12. That is flagrant criminal neglect

If you lock someone up, you better damned sure take care of them because you have made yourself their lifeline. Not doing so amounts to murder.

[tblue37]

19. Remember the kid in LA, I believe, who was locked up and then completely

FORGOTTEN for days, He had to drink his own urine to survive.

If we didn't insist on multiplying criminal offenses by criminalizing everything someone finds annoying and then and locking up so many people, often just to maintain the 90% occupancy rates that states have oromised private prison companies, then maybe we could take proper care of those who really do need to be locked up for the safety of society.

[DeadLetterOffice]

15. Wouldn't you think

that someone placed in "an observation unit for inmates with mental illnesses" might actually be, oh, I dunno -- observed?!?

[blackspade]

16. Great, criminals guarding criminals....

[Pterodactyl]

17. The mayor should have to answer for this.