A Rikers Island detainee has died after jail staff “repeatedly ignored” her requests for medical help, culminating in a medical episode severe enough to land her in a hospital, according to her defense lawyers.
Charizma Jones, 23, died Sunday after she suffered a medical episode while on Rikers, then taken to Elmhurst Hospital, according to sources familiar with her case.
Jones, who was serving a year-long jail sentence on Rikers after a Manhattan slashing last year, was awaiting prosecution on new charges in the Bronx after she was charged with punching a correction officer in April.
A spokeswoman for the Bronx D.A.’s office said prosecutors consented to her release from custody without bail on July 10, after she was hospitalized, “after a hearing where the defense produced documents that she was seriously ill.”
“Words cannot express our sadness and outrage over the sudden death of Charizma Jones, who was just 23 years old, when she passed away Sunday night following her release from DOC custody,” the Legal Aid Society, which represented Jones in her criminal cases, said in a statement Tuesday.
“Over the weekend, we learned that while Ms. Jones was incarcerated at Rikers Island, she experienced a medical emergency, but was repeatedly denied initial care by DOC staff. Subsequently, her condition worsened, and she was transferred to a local hospital.”
The exact cause of death was not clear Tuesday.
Todd Maisel/New York Daily News
New York City Department of Corrections logo is pictured on the floor of a Rikers Island jail in this 2015 file photo. (Todd Maisel/New York Daily News)
Legal Aid called for an investigation.
“The circumstances surrounding Ms. Jones’ death warrants transparency and an expeditious and independent investigation,” the public defenders organization said. “We demand that any correction officers who blocked her access to medical care face immediate suspension, and DOC must preserve all evidence — including recent camera footage — that exists of Ms. Jones during her time in custody.”
A Department of Correction spokesperson deferred all comment to Correctional Health Services, stating, “DOC is not responsible for the medical care of persons in custody (PIC) and the department is not made aware of PIC health/medical issues or status.”
A spokeswoman for Correctional Health Service said the agency “does not comment on individual patient cases because of health privacy concerns.”
Jones’ death would be the fourth reported jail-related death in 2024 and the first since March 22 when Roy Savage died in Bellevue Hospital from complications of cancer.. Savage had just had his conviction overturned and was awaiting a new trial.
Detainee Chima Williams died on Jan. 4 while playing basketball, while Manuel Luna died in his cell on Jan. 19.
Nine people died in the jails in 2023, 19 in 2022 and 16 in 2021.
Darren Mack, co-director with Freedom Agenda, said under Mayor Adams, the number of people serving city sentences, as Jones was, has quadrupled.
“The responsibility for Charizma’s death rests squarely on his shoulders,” Mack said. “He could be using his power to provide alternatives to incarceration for more people who are serving short City sentences, like Charizma. He has done everything else in his power to drive up the Rikers population while subjecting everyone there to harsher conditions and less transparency.”
Her death also comes just a few months after the city agreed to pay $2.6 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that officers and medical staff failed to respond properly to another detainee, Robert Jackson, 42 who died of a heart attack in June 2021. A Board of Corrections report lays out a litany of delays in his care leading up to his death.
A Daily News investigation found that Correctional Health Services staffers have a history of missteps in handling detainees’ illnesses and mental health issues, but are rarely disciplined.
The city and the correction officers union continue to oppose efforts by the Department of Justice and advocates to place control of the jail under a federal receiver.
The federal government has its own problems handling medical treatment in the city’s only operating federal jail, the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park.
Most recently, jail staff ignored an inmate’s lung cancer diagnosis for months, letting a mass in his chest grow untreated to twice its size as medical staff at MDC sat on the results of a CT scan, court filings allege.
Manhattan Federal Court Judge Jesse Furman listed a string of medical treatment delays and screw-ups in a January ruling, and noted, “It is ironic, to say the least, that even as the Executive Branch fails to do what needs to be done to tend to its own house, it has — through the United States Attorney’s Office — sought the appointment of an outside receiver to address “unsafe, dangerous, and chaotic” conditions in New York City’s jail system.”
