A person detained at Rikers Island died early Saturday, the New York City Department of Correction has confirmed.
Marvin Pines, 65, died in Rikers’ North Infirmary Command shortly after 6 a.m. Saturday. The cause of his death is being investigated.
It is the first death the city has recorded in 2023 for a person in its custody. Last year, 19 people died in city custody or shortly after leaving it — the deadliest year on record in the past 25 years.
Pines’ attorney, Javier Damien, said officials told him that his client had died of a seizure while taking a shower. Damien said his client had suffered from seizures in the past and was worried that he wouldn’t get the medical attention he needed in jail.
“He was scared about his health,” Damien said in a phone call.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The state attorney general’s office, which is now required by law to investigate in-custody deaths, also did not immediately provide further information.
"Any death in custody is a tragedy. We sincerely send our deepest condolences and sympathy to Mr. Pines’ family and loved ones," said Correction Commissioner Louis Molina in a statement. "As with all deaths in custody, we are working with our partner agencies to conduct a full investigation.”
The Department of Correction said Pines had been in custody since Aug. 3. Court records show that he was arrested in late July for a third-degree charge of criminal possession of a drug with intent to sell. He had been arrested twice earlier in the year on other drug charges.
Pines pleaded guilty to several narcotics charges in November. He was due back in court later this month for sentencing and was expected to spend a year in state prison.
Damien said his client was “struggling” and that his charges stemmed from drug addiction, and added that Pines had been in a treatment program before his latest arrest last summer. The attorney said Pines cried when a judge set bail for a $50,000 bond or $25,000 in cash — a sum he could not afford.
“He couldn’t control what he was doing, in a lot of ways,” Damien said. “He knew what the danger was, that he was going to go in jail if he got caught selling drugs again. And then they said he was selling drugs again.”
Several criminal justice reform advocates cited the death as yet another example of a humanitarian crisis on the city’s jail complex, which has struggled with widespread staffing shortages, scores of missed medical appointments, high suicide rates and rampant violence. Surveillance photos obtained by Gothamist last year showed dire conditions, including a man locked in a cage shower for almost an entire day and a man defecating in his shorts because there wasn’t a toilet available in the intake area.
Some have called for a federal receiver to take over Rikers Island, but city officials have resisted those requests, and a judge has ruled against a receivership for now.
Tino Luongo, chief defender at the Legal Aid Society, urged the mayor to consent to a federal takeover of the city’s jail complex following the latest death.
Evie Litwok, a formerly incarcerated woman who now advocates for jail reform in New York City, said she’s frustrated that officials have not found a better solution for the crisis on Rikers.
“Prison and jail and detention centers cannot be life-threatening situations,” she said. “They are meant to be situations where people have to pay a debt to society. And that’s it.”
This is a developing story and will be updated.
