City jail failed my brother
Sis of suicide inmate: Tombs staffers should be fired
Hours before Ryan Wilson took his own life in a lower Manhattan jail, the 29-year-old got a promising phone call about his future.
Wilson had spoken with his brother about 10 a.m. on Nov. 22 from the Manhattan Detention Complex — known as the Tombs — where he’d been held on robbery charges since late October, his sister Elayna Manson told the Daily News.
The brief conversation centered around what was to come: developments in Wilson’s case, his upcoming December court date and what he planned to do with the public assistance funds he’d received while on the outside.
Yet just over seven hours later, Wilson hanged himself in his cell — prompting the suspension of a captain and a correction officer, and an investigation into claims that jail staffers saw his lifeless body but waited nearly 15 minutes before calling for help.
News of his suicide still doesn’t
Ryan Wilson, who killed himself at lower Manhattan lockup on Nov. 22, is flanked by sisters Carolun Parker (l.) and Elayna Manson.
make sense to Manson, a Brooklyn social worker who had watched her brother battle bipolar disorder for over 20 years — but had never heard him utter a word about taking his own life.
Even more distressing, she said, are the disturbing details from several jail insiders who allege Correction Officer Oscar Rojo and Capt. Rebecca Hillman saw Wilson with
a makeshift noose around his neck before he hanged himself.
“He was in prison for seven years,” Manson, 35, told The News on Monday, referring to Wilson’s recent prison stint for attempted robbery.
“He went through so much during those seven years that could’ve caused him to take his life. …What could have possibly happened that he would hang himself now?”
“He should’ve been under watch,” she added, noting Wilson’s psychiatric history was well-documented in court records and in the state prison and city jail systems.
“The extra care my brother needed because of his mental illness, he didn’t get that. That wasn’t provided for him at all. … It’s frustrating, it’s hurtful. They should lose their jobs. I can’t sleep. My dad can’t sleep. None of us can sleep.”
Manson said she had long watched her kid brother — who had been through the foster care system — struggle with mental health issues.
He had shown signs of progress in recent years, she said — but after his release from Sing Sing this summer, Wilson had started to falter. He had applied to get into a postrelease work program, but was denied. He sent out résumés, but did not hear back. When he landed in a homeless shelter, he began to get desperate.
“He was so used to being institutionalized that he had a rough time being on the outside,” said Manson, one of Wilson’s six siblings who spent time with him while he was out. “We tried to encourage him to be just a little more patient. But when you have someone who has mental health issues … they’re not as patient as we can be.”
Wilson was arrested Oct. 27 on robbery charges. Less than a month later, he committed suicide.
“Can 2020 get any worse? How much more pain can we take?” Manson posted on Facebook the day after Wilson died, along with a photograph of her, her brother and their sister Carolyn Parker, taken at Sing Sing last year during a visit to the state prison where he was being held.
“I got the news that my little brother passed away, not even 30 years old. All I wanted was for you to be a better man, to go beyond your circumstances. I’m distraught, I feel sick to my stomach. Please pray for my Dad and all of my other siblings ... losing a sibling is unfathomable.”