NYC jail staff blocked medics from treating 23-year-old woman who died weeks later

NEW YORK — City correction officers repeatedly blocked medical staff from administering care to a severely ill woman held at Rikers Island weeks before the 23-year-old fell into a coma and died of apparent organ failure, a jail oversight board found. But when medical personnel attempted to check her vital signs, they were stopped from entering her cell on six separate occasions by correction officers who cited an unspecified “security reason,” according to a report released Monday by the Board of Corrections, an independent oversight agency. An attorney for her family, MK Kaishian, called the officers’ actions “illegal and morally repugnant” and accused them of contributing to a death that was both “preventable and agonizing.” The findings come weeks after a federal judge ordered the city to begin preparing for a possible federal takeover of the jail system, one of the country’s largest and most notorious, ruling it had placed its incarcerated population in “unconstitutional danger.” The investigation into Jones’ death details several of the chronic issues at the heart of the federal court case, including allegations of staff neglect and inadequate medical treatment. “While it is imperative that individual officers are held accountable, it is equally if not more urgent to acknowledge and address the fact that Ms. Jones’ death was caused by systemic rot and indifference to life within New York City’s jails originating at the highest levels of City leadership,” the attorney said in a statement.