Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
[UPDATE] Inmate And Correction Officer On Rikers Island Tests Positive For Coronavirus As Calls To Release Inmates Intensify
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Mar 18, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Erik Pendzich/Shutterstock
By
Sydney Pereira
Published Mar 18, 2020
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
A Department of Correction officer who works on Rikers Island as well as an inmate at the jail have tested positive for COVID-19 as calls for the city to release at-risk inmates have intensified.
The correction officer was assigned to Gate 1 within the security operations division at Rikers Island—where drivers go through to show identification to security officers, according to the spokesperson for the officers' union, Correction Officers' Benevolent Association.
"He's at the security checkpoint there," the spokesperson Michael Skelly said.
The union learned the officer had tested positive for the virus Tuesday night, though the officer may have found out in the past week. The officer, who has not been identified by the union, has not been working for a week, according to Skelly. The officer is the first confirmed COVID-19 case of someone who works on Rikers Island.
Hours after Gothamist confirmed the officer had the virus, an inmate on Rikers was also found to be positive with the virus, according to city officials.
Another DOC investigator died Sunday after contracting the virus. On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said logbooks showed that the 56-year-old Bronx man had not been inside a jail facility in recent days.
DOC confirmed the case of coronavirus of a detainee late Wednesday, noting that Correctional Health Services, a division of Health + Hospitals, cares for detainees. CHS senior vice president Patsy Yang said in a statement that it is working with the Department of Correction, Health + Hospitals, and the Health Department to "contain and protect" against the spread of the virus.
"We aggressively screen and monitor for signs and symptoms of the disease in order to identify potential cases as early as possible," Yang said. "The patient is receiving appropriate medical care."
De Blasio spokesperson Avery Cohen said the individual had been under CHS's care since late last week. Eight other people close to the individual were showing symptoms and transferred into medical treatment. CHS will test for COVID-19 if necessary, she said.
The Brooklyn Defender Services's executive director Lisa Schreibersdorf said in a statement "lawmakers must consider the well-being of countless vulnerable people impacted by incarceration."
"On a normal day, jails are uniquely poor environments for stopping or containing viral outbreaks. During a global pandemic, they are especially dangerous," she said. "We must immediately release those in jails and prisons who are at-risk of serious health complications from the virus and do everything possible to stop new jail admissions."
The positive cases come as the oversight group for city jails, the Board of Correction, urged the city to release some inmates in order to mitigate the pandemic—particularly those more than 50-years-old or have underlying health conditions, people locked up for administrative reasons, or people serving sentences of one year or less. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and City Council Member Brad Lander echoed calls to release inmates over 50.
"The City's jails have particular challenges to preventing disease transmission on a normal day and even more so during a public health crisis," the board said in a statement. Crowding, a lack of access to soap and water, and a ban on hand sanitizer at jails and prisons make them particularly vulnerable to a coronavirus outbreak.
"Significantly fewer people in jail will limit the spread of COVID-19 infection among people in custody and those who work in the jails, minimize the number of people in custody who will need medical care, decrease the density of housing areas for people who remain in jail, and allow New Yorkers to maintain connections with and support from their loved ones," the board said.
Lander's office said about 900 incarcerated people on Rikers are over 50-years-old. About 600 have chronic medical conditions, 300 are held on a parole warrant, 200 are held on bail, and about 75 are serving a city sentence—or less than one year.
The officers' union called the board's proposal "asinine."
"Instead of recklessly letting inmates out, call for the city to ramp up its efforts to bring in more masks, gloves, hand sanitizers, and other vital supplies for the men and women who must also put their health at risk by showing up to work every day, providing care, custody, and control," COBA president Elias Husamudeen said in a statement.
A second person on Rikers with the virus only "adds to our urgency" of demands for supplies, Skelly said.
Skelly said the union wants Avon protection masks, rather than the N95 masks, as well as gloves and hand sanitizer. The union also wants the Department of Correction to segregate newly admitted inmates.
During a press briefing on Tuesday, de Blasio said that the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice and the NYPD were evaluating which individuals at a high-risk of vulnerability to coronavirus or with low-risk of re-offending "should be taken out of our jail system."
In a radio interview on WCBS Wednesday evening, de Blasio said within 48 hours the city would identify who should be released.
Both the city DOC and the state agency that controls the prison system, the New York State Department of Correction and Community Supervision (DOCCS), have limited visitors to those being held behind bars, though they have not lifted the prohibition on hand sanitizer, because it contains alcohol.
On Tuesday, the Legal Aid Society called for DOCCS to suspend all parole hearings. A report released last week by Columbia University's Justice Lab showed that blacks and Latinos are far more likely to be incarcerated by technical parole violations than their white counterparts. As of December of last year, there were more than 800 people held on Rikers due to technical parole violations. The parole courthouse itself on Rikers has been described as "a small dining room table where you'd have an intimate gathering."
“Our clients’ rights to due process includes the right to health and personal safety. Our attorneys and others who work in the system deserve the same. We demand the immediate release of all New Yorkers held on parole violations at Rikers Island and that DOCCS suspend all hearings at once to install video conferencing technology. Until this is done, people’s lives will continue to be at risk,” Lorraine McEvilley, the director of Legal Aid's parole revocation defense unit, said in a statement.
With reporting from Christopher Robbins, Yasmeen Khan, and Cindy Rodriguez.
This article has been updated with information about a second positive COVID-19 case on Rikers Island as well as statements from the DOC, CHS, and City Hall.
Tagged
COVID-19
Rikers Island
department of correction
coronavirus
Sydney Pereira
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Luigi Mangione in court for final hearing before high-profile murder trial
He has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and other charges in the killing of a health insurance executive.
By
Samantha Max
Published Aug 11, 2026 at 10:18 a.m. ET
Why we still adore NYC's very own Spider-Man 'schmuck' after a bajillion movies
Queens boy Peter Parker is all ours, and he's all of us.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
Sean Carlson
News
Why we still adore NYC's very own Spider-Man 'schmuck' after a bajillion movies
Queens boy Peter Parker is all ours, and he's all of us.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
and
Sean Carlson
16-year-old Bronx teen who was fatally shot may have been handling a gun that mistakenly fired
By
Brittany Kriegstein
Early Addition: Survey says NYC's DSA is 60% white
By
James Ramsay
NY's recycling data is a dumpster fire, according to state comptroller report
By
Rosemary Misdary
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .