Inmate, 65, in infirmary, is 1st to die at Rikers this year
A detainee awaiting sentencing for repeatedly peddling drugs outside a Midtown fast-food joint died early Saturday at Rikers Island, the first death of 2023 at the troubled jail complex, the Daily News has learned.
The lifeless body of Marvin Pines, 65, was found in the shower area of the island’s North Infirmary Command at 6:18 a.m. after he suffered a seizure, said sources familiar with the case and the inmate’s attorney. He was housed at the unit, where the sickliest detainees are held, since his arrival at the jail last summer.
“It’s very sad,” said defense lawyer Javier Damien. “I just think Rikers Island needs to get better medical care . ... You can’t deny there’s an issue with the medical care there. It’s a serious problem.”
Pines was due for sentencing on Feb. 21 after pleading guilty two months ago, and faced a year in state prison and one year of postrelease supervision.
Last year, 19 detainees died at Rikers Island (photo), spurring calls from inmate advocates for the jail’s closure. Sixteen people died at Rikers in 2021.
“At 65, he was sent to a penal colony that is utterly failing to provide medical care or safety for anyone,” said Darren Mack, co-director of the Freedom Agenda and a one-time inmate at Rikers.
“Mayor Adams wants New Yorkers to look away from these tragedies by telling us that people held at Rikers are ‘bad people,’ but we know Mr. Pines was a human being, he should be alive, and our city failed him.”
Mack noted that Pines is the 20th person to die at Rikers since Adams took office in January 2022.
“Dozens of families are grieving the loss of their loved ones in the custody of this city, and the mayor is still encouraging judges and prosecutors to send more people to this death camp, instead of investing in solutions for real community safety,” he said.
Pines, of Pennsylvania, was busted three times for drug possession and sale outside a McDonald’s at 34th St. and Eighth Ave., sources told the Daily News. He was twice released before a July 28, 2022, arrest led to his incarceration.
A source said four people overdosed near the McDonald’s on the day Pines was taken into custody, although there was never a direct link to the defendant.
When arrested in May, police recovered glassine envelopes stamped with the fast-food giant’s logo and the words “I’m lovin’ it,” the source said. He pleaded guilty to all three charges in November and was remanded to Rikers Island.
Pines’ daughter — who asked that her name not be used — said her father had mental health issues and also suffered from headaches and problems with his blood pressure.
In August, the daughter said, Pines suffered a seizure that caused him to fall in a Rikers shower, causing a wound in his head that required stitches. “What I want to know is, were they monitoring after he fell? ... They should have been monitoring him.”
Pines, who had worked for a car dealership and as a cook, “got into petty things, and he had a hard time managing his addiction,” the daughter said.
“He had spent a lot of time in and out of facilities like Rikers. He’s always had a little something wrong with him. He had a very rough childhood.”
“Any death in custody is a tragedy,” said city Correction Commissioner Louis Molina.
“We sincerely send our deepest condolences and sympathy to this individual’s family and loved ones. As with all deaths in custody, we are working with our partner agencies to conduct a full investigation.”
The commissioner said all such deaths are reviewed by the state attorney general’s office and the city Department of Investigation.
The city Correction Department has been repeatedly accused of providing inmates with poor medical care. The failure of Rikers Island staffers to get detainees to their medical appointments was an indirect factor in the deaths of nine inmates in 2022, the city Board of Correction said in a report.