12th inmate dies as New York City’s jail crisis grows

By MICHAEL R. SISAK
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — An inmate on a New York City jail barge died Wednesday after an apparent medical emergency, officials said. It is at least the 12th death of a city inmate this year and the second this week. The city’s Department of Correction said in a statement that the inmate at the Vernon C. Bain Center, a floating Bronx jail across the East River from the Rikers Island jail complex, had appeared to be in medical distress. A medical emergency was activated at the jail and the inmate was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead around 10:50 a.m. Correction Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi called the death devastating.