Rikers Inmate “Baked to Death” in Overheated Cell

http://breakingbrown.com/2014/05/rikers-inmate-baked-to-death-in-overheated-cell/

A mentally ill inmate at Rikers passed away in an overheated cell just one day after officials at the prison had requested repairs for the heating problem.

The Associated Press reports that two requests for repairs were made on February 14 but delayed due to a holiday weekend. Since the following Monday was President’s Day, the request for the repairs wasn’t received until the following Tuesday.

Former Marine Jerome Murdough, 56, had been arrested one week before his death for trespassing onto a Harlem public housing project while seeking shelter from the cold. Authorities at Rikers found him dead in a pool of his own blood and vomit on February 15 with a body temperature of 103 degrees.


From the Associated Press:

One official who spoke at the time on the condition of anonymity described him as having “basically baked to death.” The mayor has called his death “very troubling,” and it prompted Department of Correction officials to suspend a correction officer, reassign a warden and transfer a mechanics supervisor.
Maintenance workers fixed the problem after Murdough’s body was found.

“To learn that Jerome Murdough died as a result of the city’s failure to remove him from a dangerous environment shows how senseless and avoidable his death was,” said family attorney Derek Sells, who is filing a lawsuit on behalf of the family. “Alma Murdough, Jerome’s mother, is beside herself at this news of how the city failed her son and wants to hold those responsible for his death accountable.”