Problems On Rikers Island & 
Highlight A National Trend Toward Atrocity 
In Our Nation's Over-crowed Prisons

·  the escape of a prisoner on Wednesday, 

·  a 37-year- old inmate who had to wait an hour and 10 minutes before an ambulance 

·  the suicide of a 19 year old inmate on May 22 whose family was unable to raise bail 

·  a recent accidental gun discharge by a correction officer while on a bus filled with inmates 

·  the death on Tuesday of Anthony Rizzo of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, the third inmate to die this year after being attacked by another prisoner.

Panel Faults Progress of Prison Health Care

By ERIC LIPTON

June 15, 2001

Medical treatment given to 13,500 city inmates is not improving as quickly as city officials had hoped when they hired a Tennessee-based, for-profit company six months ago to revamp medical and mental health services at Rikers Island, officials on an oversight board said yesterday.

The death this week of a 37-year- old inmate who had to wait an hour and 10 minutes before an ambulance was called has only heightened broader concerns about the performance of the company, Prison Health Services. The company started work in January on a three-year, $314 million contract.

Members of the Board of Correction, a citizens' committee appointed by the mayor and the City Council to monitor treatment of inmates, discussed several incidents yesterday at their monthly meeting, including the escape of a prisoner on Wednesday, the suicide of an inmate on May 22, a recent accidental gun discharge by a correction officer and a fight between two captains at the Brooklyn House of Detention. They also discussed the death on Tuesday of Anthony Rizzo of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, the third inmate to die this year after being attacked by another prisoner.

"It was most unusual, most unusual," David A. Schulte, who has served on the Correction Board since the early 1960's, said of the many incidents that needed to be discussed.

Delays in getting inmates to specialists for needed medical treatment and the rapid turnover among top-level Prison Health Services staff members — three different medical directors so far — had already led some to question the company's services.

"I am having increasing concerns that the delivery of services is not at the level where it ought to be," said David Lenefsky, a board member. "The warning signs are there."

But several board members said the company did appear to be making efforts to correct the problems.

Colleen Roche, a Prison Health Services spokeswoman, said the company remained "absolutely committed to quality care for the inmates."

"We recognize there is a need for continued improvement," Ms. Roche said. The fact that there have been three medical directors, while not ideal, showed that the company was willing to move quickly to deal with a problem if one existed, she said.

Board members questioned the commissioner of correction, William J. Fraser, about several of the recent incidents. A 19-year-old inmate whose family had been unable to raise bail was the first suicide this year, the commissioner said.

The search is continuing for Carlos Zufriatequi, 29, a suspect in a burglary, who somehow sneaked out of a Rikers Island detention center about 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday. The officer who accidentally discharged his weapon in late April while on a bus filled with inmates has been disciplined. And one of the captains involved in the Brooklyn dispute on May 1 was suspended, Mr. Fraser said.

But board members seemed most concerned about what they perceived as shortcomings in health care, especially since they had had high expectations for Prison Health Services, which was brought in after a trouble-plagued three-year contract with St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx.

Ernesto Marrero Jr., the executive of the Health and Hospitals Corporation who monitors the performance of Prison Health Services and helped draft the company's contract, said that he too was somewhat disappointed with the company's work so far.

"They are not living up to all aspects of the contract," Mr. Marrero said, adding that a formal performance evaluation to be released next week on 34 criteria would be a "mixed bag."

Health care has improved, he said, citing as one example the assignment of doctors during all shifts at each of the 10 jails on Rikers Island, instead of merely the physician's assistants who sometimes filled in during the St. Barnabas tenure.

But Mr. Marrero said there had been sporadic problems getting inmates to specialists, like cardiologists or neurologists, within the time recommended by doctors who first see the inmates needing more advanced care.

Mr. Rizzo's death on Tuesday is still being investigated. He was beaten on Monday by other inmates while at the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island, but he declined medical attention. At 4:35 a.m. Tuesday, medical personnel were called after Mr. Rizzo fell to the ground and could not get up. His blood pressure had dropped, apparently because of internal bleeding, city officials said.

Mr. Rizzo arrived at a prison health clinic at 5 a.m. and was treated by prison doctors, but an ambulance was not called until 5:45 a.m. According to city records, he did not arrive at the Elmhurst Hospital Center cardiac emergency room until 7:05 a.m. He was pronounced dead at 7:38.

"That is no good," said Canute C. Bernard, a Board of Correction member and retired surgeon. "By the time they got him to the emergency room, he was already gone."

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