NYC jail staff blocked medics from treating 23-year-old woman who died weeks later 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.
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.”.
Jones' death has sparked outrage among advocates and some officials, as well as ongoing probes by the state Attorney General's Office and the city’s Department of Investigation.
Charizma Jones was receiving treatment for a possible case of scarlet fever when she was transferred to an infirmary unit May 4 for worsening symptoms.
