Lezandre Khadu has experienced first-hand the pain of losing a loved one in prison. His son Stephan is one of 20 prisoners who have died in the last 18 months at the Rikers prison in New York, whose closure has long been demanded by legislators, human rights defenders and former prisoners.
“He died for an inhumane system”, says this 39-year-old woman crying during an interview with AFP in her Brooklyn apartment, as she assures that she will continue to fight for the closure of this old prison.
“I wouldn’t know how to do anything else. I don’t just speak on behalf of my son. I speak on behalf of all children,” he maintains.
Known for its unsanitary conditions and violence, Rikers has also been recently for suicides, overdose deaths and poor medical care.
A local court last month accused the Department of Corrections (DOC) of denying medical attention to prisoners and a federal judge had urged authorities to present a plan to solve the crisis in this immense complex.
For Khadu it is already late. His son, she says, was a healthy young man when he entered Rikers, located on the East River, between the boroughs of the Bronx and Queens, in December 2019.
He had been charged with conspiring to commit murder. Like most of the prisoners in this penitentiary compound, he was in preventive detention.
Stephan had been transferred to a neighboring center, known as “The Boat” (The boat).
His son, he assures, began to have health problems in July 2021 and blames it on the pepper spray that the guards use against the inmates to maintain order.
After spending a few days in the hospital, Stephan returned to his cell, but on September 22, an inmate found him bleeding from the mouth. He was hospitalized and passed away the same day.
– “Tragedy” –
According to medical authorities, Stephan had contracted meningitis, a condition that is treatable.
Khadu says it took the prison guards at least two hours to attend to him. “No one did anything. My son would still be here if they cared. He didn’t go to jail to die,” he says angrily.
Stephan’s death “is being investigated,” according to a Department of Corrections spokesman.
Sixteen people died in New York jails or shortly after they were released, last year, the most since 2013. Almost all in Rikers. So far in 2022, six have died, according to the DOC.
“Each death in detention is a tragedy,” Louis Molina, prison commissioner since January, told AFP.
“We are actively working to improve conditions at Rikers … and ensure the safety and well-being of all who work and live on our premises,” he adds in an email.
Lawmakers and former inmates alike say conditions at Rikers worsened dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, primarily due to a lack of staff.
Lezandre Khadu /Photo: AFP
– Closing? –
Brian Carmichael spent two months in jail last year for a drug deal.
“Inside it is horrible and it breaks your heart,” this 58-year-old man tells AFP, mentioning the violence between gangs, the decrepit facilities or the filth of clogged toilets.
Rikers opened in 1932. Among others, the murderer of John Lennon, Mark David Chapman, the film producer accused of sexual abuse Harvey Weinstein, the rapper Tupac Shakur, Sid Vicious of Sex Pistol or the former director of the IMF Dominique Strauss-Kahn.
The number of prisoners fell from 20,000 in 1990 to almost 6,000 today, most of them black and Latino. Many with mental problems.
Lawyers and criminologists have been demanding for years andl closure of this ancient and isolated complex.
The previous mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio, announced its closure by 2026 and a budget of 8.7 billion to replace it with modern and smaller facilities.
His successor, Eric Adams, backed the plan during his election campaign.but since he was elected he has not spoken about it again.
