NYC jail death No. 10 Inmate ‘drug OD’
A Rikers Island detainee died from a suspected fentanyl overdose late Sunday, leading to a correction officer getting fired — while two others were rushed to hospitals overnight into Monday, The Post has learned.
The suspected overdose marked the 10th death in city Department of Correction custody this year. It was the agency’s fourth fatal overdose of 2022, three of which happened in the last two months.
Elijah Muhammad, 31, was found unresponsive in his cell at the George R. Vierno Center at about 9:45 p.m. Sunday and was pronounced dead about an hour later, internal records obtained by The Post show.
The Kentucky native, who arrived on Rikers Island on June 8, had multiple open cases in Brooklyn and was due to be arraigned Monday on an attempted murder and felony assault indictment that was handed down last month, according to court records.
Muhammad pleaded guilty in May to felony robbery and possession of stolen property charges, and was also due in court Monday in connection with that case, the records state.
A spokesperson for the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office said she was unable to provide further details on the cases because they had already been abated by the defendant’s death.
DOC Commissioner Louis Molina said a “preliminary review” of Muhammad’s death “required . . . immediate action against the staff involved” and an officer was fired as a result.
“It is heartbreaking when someone dies while in custody. We treat every death with the utmost seriousness and understand that it is our mandate to keep every person entrusted to our care safe,” Molina said.
“We will also be referring this incident to the Department of Investigation immediately. Our hearts go out to the deceased’s family and friends.”
The Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, which repped the fired officer, didn’t immediately comment. A jailhouse source said the canned officer was assigned to Muhammad’s housing area.
Meanwhile, two other men in the same housing area as Muhammad suffered medical emergencies overnight and investigators are seeking to determine if fentanyl was involved, jailhouse sources told The Post Monday.
Their conditions aren’t immediately clear and the DOC didn’t comment when asked for additional information.
Fentanyl, a highly potent and deadly opioid, has been “circulating” through the jail, sources previously said, and it’s been difficult to control due to the agency’s staffing crunch caused by chronic absenteeism and a host of other issues at the mismanaged agency.
The 10 deaths in city DOC custody so far this year follow a dire 2021 which saw 16 detainee deaths — the most since 2016 and more than 2019 and 2020 combined.