Jail deaths info hidden from review

AFTER MORE THAN 40 years, city health officials suddenly stopped sharing basic medical information related to inmates who die in custody with a jail oversight board.

The move — which came in January — comes as the city’s scandal-scarred jail system faces intense scrutiny.

Officials at the city’s Health and Hospitals Corp. said state law prohibited the sharing of the private medical information with the board, according to a source familiar with the situation.

“Denying the board access to review the records of men and women who have died in custody places everyone in the jails in danger,” said board member Robert Cohen.

On Wednesday, the city Law Department backtracked following questions from the Daily News.

The Law Department now says the board can get the records after filing a judicial subpoena approved by a judge.

Deaths in custody are rare and typically involve drug abuse or natural causes, records show.

There have been 39 such cases since 2014, according to sources.

But some highlight cases of serious major medical neglect and officer abuses, including one inmate who essentially baked to death in his overheated cell and another who died after suffering a seizure while an officer drank coffee and looked on.

Antonio Pina, who allegedly plowed into group of cyclists at NYC Century Bike Tour on Sunday in Brooklyn, in custody, his eyes bloodshot and his tongue out. Below, mangled bike of 55-year-old woman who was trapped under his minivan.