Documents: Officials Knew About Rikers Heat Problem Before Inmate’s Death

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NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Court documents have revealed that officials at Rikers Island were aware of excessive heat problems inside the facility before a mentally ill inmate was found dead in an overheated cell.

The Associated Press reported Tuesday that e-mails requesting repairs due to “too much heat” in a cell were sent on Friday, Feb. 14. But they weren’t received until Feb. 18, the following Tuesday, because the maintenance department doesn’t receive requests during weekends, according to a Feb. 27 email sent by a court-appointed monitor and filed last month in an ongoing federal lawsuit by The Legal Aid Society.

In addition, that Monday was Presidents Day, a federal holiday.

The e-mail by the deputy director of the Office of Compliance Consultants, filed last month in U.S. District Court in Manhattan in a case concerning heating conditions in the Rikers Island jail complex, also revealed previously unknown details regarding the death of 56-year-old former Marine Jerome Murdough.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2014/05/06/documents-officials-knew-about-rikers-heat-problem-before-inmates-death/