NYC Settles Landmark Lawsuit Over Rikers Island Inmate’s Brain Damage Case

Edited by: TJVNews.com

In a landmark decision, New York City has agreed to pay over $28 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Nicholas Feliciano, a young man who suffered severe brain damage after attempting to hang himself in a Rikers Island jail cell while correction officers stood by, as was reported in the New York Times.

The settlement, if approved by a judge, will mark one of the largest pretrial settlements ever awarded to a single plaintiff in a civil rights case in New York City. According to the information provided in the NYT report, Nicholas Feliciano, aged 18 at the time, had a lengthy history of psychiatric hospitalizations and suicide attempts when he was sent to Rikers in late 2019 for a parole violation.

On November 27th of that year, Feliciano attempted to hang himself in his cell. Shockingly, video footage obtained by The New York Times revealed that correction officers watched as he struggled and flailed his arms, yet failed to intervene even after he became limp.

The Bronx district attorney pursued felony charges against three guards and a captain in 2022 in connection with the incident. As was indicated in the NYT report, last year, two guards pleaded guilty to official misconduct, a misdemeanor, and avoided jail time. However, cases against the captain and the remaining officer are still pending.

Following the incident, Feliciano has required round-the-clock care for the past four years. Initially treated at Bellevue Hospital Center, he was later transferred to a rehabilitation facility. The report in the NYT said that according to his grandmother, Madeline Feliciano, aged 57, Nicholas now relies on a walker to move around, requires assistance with eating, and suffers from short-term memory loss. He struggles to recall visits with family and friends or even the events of the previous day.

Nicholas Feliciano’s family awaits a final decision on the proposed settlement, which they hope will provide financial assistance to care for him at home. However, as his grandmother poignantly expressed, no amount of compensation can restore Nicholas to his former self, as was pointed out in the NYT report. At just 22 years old, Nicholas faces a lifetime of living with the severe brain damage he sustained after attempting to hang himself in a Rikers Island jail cell.

The NYT reported that according to the New York City Board of Correction, which oversees the city’s jails, many of the underlying issues that led to Nicholas Feliciano’s case have only worsened over time.

In the past three years alone, at least 18 mentally ill detainees have died by suicide, drug overdose, or other causes. The prevalence of serious mental illness among Rikers detainees has surged, with approximately one in five individuals requiring psychiatric care.

The videos, meticulously gathered by the law firm Beldock, Levine & Hoffman, offer a rare glimpse into the events leading up to Feliciano’s suicide attempt and the shocking inaction of correction staff members, according to the NYT report. They highlight the harsh conditions, inhumane treatment, and inadequate supervision that often characterize the experiences of mentally ill individuals within the confines of Rikers.

David B. Rankin, Feliciano’s lawyer, asserts that the Department of Correction failed his client from the moment he entered Rikers. Despite being diagnosed with clinical depression, Feliciano was placed in a general population housing area notorious for gang violence, rather than in a mental health unit, the NYT report said.