After fourth months of vague and deflective answers from state correction officials, the New York Times has published a shocking report on the death of Samuel “J-Rock” Harrell, a diagnosed-bipolar inmate at medium-security Fishkill Correctional Facility in Beacon, New York. Witnesses said about 20 officers repeatedly kicked and punched him.
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A prisoner advocacy organization demanded Tuesday that the Department of Justice launch an extended investigation into the New York state prison system to uncover and fix its alleged culture of violence.
“Mr. Harrell was then thrown or dragged down a staircase, according to the inmates” accounts.
“His eyes were open”, the inmate wrote, “but they weren’t looking at anything”. The cause of death, according to the medical examiner was cardiac arrhythmia following a physical altercation.
When the ambulance arrived, correctional officers told the E.M.S. crew that Harrell was suffering from an overdose of a form of synthetic marijuana known as K2.
In its statement, the Correctional Association said Harrell’s death is “a reminder that the entire prison system is out of control and irreparably broken”.
Inmates said that there are no surveillance cameras in the area where the incident took place.
New York State Police, who are conducting the investigation into the incident, will reportedly turn over the evidence to the Dutchess County district attorney’s office sometime “in the very near future”. Authorities have not confirmed the prison officer identities. Five weeks before Mr. Harrell’s death, David Martinez, an inmate in Building 21 who was serving time for attempted murder, among other charges, filed a grievance saying he was being assaulted and harassed by officers, and asking that the officers on that shift “be split up”.
The Correctional Officers & Police Benevolent Association repeated the claim that officers suspected drug use. In a recent investigation into the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York -where two convicted murderers escaped earlier this year – the Times reported that inmates were beaten and choked with plastic bags by corrections officers in an effort to extrapolate information regarding the escapees.
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One inmate, identified as Edwin Pearson, says the guards jumped on him like a “trampoline”.
