Rikers officials signed off on ’round-the-clock lockdown’ of mentally ill woman who later died: claim notice

Rikers Island detainee Charizma Jones, who died in July of a horrific skin condition, had a history of mental illness but was pulled out of a special jail mental health unit and put in general population months before her death, according to a notice of claim filed by her family.

After Jones got into a fight in April with a correction officer and was charged with assault, medical staff effectively cleared her to be placed in isolation by asserting she had no medical issues, according to the $50 million claim, which was filed with the city Comptroller’s office and precedes a lawsuit.

“She had diagnosed serious mental health needs, but those were ignored, and she was later cleared for punitive segregation,” said MK Kaishian, the lawyer representing Jones’ family. “As she was decompensating, she wasn’t receiving care. This is a systemic failure by several agencies.”

Jones, 23, died at the Weill Cornell Burn Center July 14 of complications of toxic epidermal necrolysis, hospital records show. The News previously reported correction employees prevented medical staff from checking on her for several days before she was taken to Elmhurst Hospital on May 6.

Hers was one of five deaths in the jails in 2024, following nine in 2023, 21 in 2022 and 16 in 2021.

Officials with the Correction Department declined to comment citing litigation and ongoing investigations. Correctional Health Services, the agency that provides jail medical care, did not respond to inquiries.

Jones began a year-long sentence on Rikers Island for a Manhattan slashing on Sept. 10, 2023. DOC and CHS were aware of her prior bipolar disorder diagnoses and a history of psychiatric hospitalizations, including a 2022 stay at Bellevue, the claim states.

On Sept. 16, she was placed in a mental observation unit after showing “radical changes in behavior,” the claim states. But on Nov. 21, she was abruptly moved to general population, the claim states, even though CHS social worker Charles Kadan’s notes suggested Jones was still showing symptoms of her condition.

“Patient presented as paranoid and possibly internally preoccupied — worried peers in cells across the room were looking at her … shouting in her cell and in shower at seemingly ‘someone’ …,” Kadan wrote. “[Patient] remains noncompliant with psych meds.”

She remained in general population from Nov. 21 through April 16, missing 17 medical appointments on top of an earlier 12 missed clinic visits.

On April 16, she got into a fight with a correction officer and subdued with pepper spray, The News previously reported.

Based on the officer’s account, Bronx prosecutors alleged the brawl began with an unprovoked attack by Jones.

The new case extended her release date. DOC officials placed her on a more restricted status which the claim characterizes as “punitive segregation or “round-the-clock-lockdown.”

People with serious mental illness are not supposed to be placed in punitive segregation under city regulations. Mayor Adams, however, has controversially suspended some of those rules through an executive order and refused to implement a law banning solitary confinement.

Two CHS staffers cleared Jones for the higher security status by indicating on a form she had no medical considerations, the claim alleges.

“Based on this claim, it appears there was neglect by not only (DOC) in preventing Charizma Jones from receiving life-saving care, but by (CHS), which failed to properly indicate that Ms. Jones had medical considerations that could be exacerbated by solitary confinement,” said Council Member Sandy Nurse (D-Brooklyn).

From the day of the assault to May 6, Jones was kept isolated in a cell, a move the claim alleges was in retaliation for the fight with the officer.

On April 30, she was finally allowed a medical visit. She was diagnosed with scarlet fever and prescribed antibiotics.

Jones’ health declined, the claim alleges. Toxic epidermal necrolysis, which causes sloughing of skin, is a rare disorder which is often contracted through an allergic reaction to antibiotics.

She was transferred to the infirmary where she was also held in a cell alone. On May 4 and 5, officers prevented medical staff from checking on Jones, The News previously reported.

On May 6, Jones was vomiting, going in and out of consciousness and in severe pain. DOC staff initially denied access to medical workers but other detainees began to call on them to open her cell and call 911.

The detainees put her on a chair and brought her to the entrance of the housing area to wait for EMS to arrive and take her to the hospital, the claim states.

By July 10, she had lost 65% of her skin and she was dying, a letter from doctors said.

The city Medical Examiner has yet to officially determine her cause of death.