Inmate dies after being pepper sprayed in cell

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Updated 7:59 am CDT, Thursday, June 4, 2020

NEW YORK (AP) —

An inmate at a jail in New York City died after being pepper sprayed by officers in his cell, the federal Bureau of Prisons said.

Jamel Floyd, 35, barricaded himself inside his cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn at 10 a.m. Wednesday and used a metal object to break the cell-door window, the bureau said in a statement.

Floyd “became increasingly disruptive and potentially harmful to himself and others," and officers responded by using pepper spray to subdue him, the bureau said.

Floyd was unresponsive after being pepper sprayed and was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/article/Inmate-dies-after-being-pepper-sprayed-in-cell-15316478.php

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'They murdered my son’: Brooklyn inmate who died after being maced by guards was asthmatic, family says
By NOAH GOLDBERG and STEPHEN REX BROWN
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
JUN 04, 2020 | 12:46 PM

The mother of the man who died at Brooklyn’s federal jail Wednesday told the Daily News corrections officers never should have maced her asthmatic son.

“He had underlying medical conditions they were aware of. They knew he had asthma and was diabetic,” said Jamel Floyd’s mother Donna Mays in a phone call with The News Thursday. “He died because of the mace. You do not mace an asthmatic.

“They maced my son,” she said. “They murdered my son."

Metropolitan Detention Center inmate Jamel Floyd died after correctional officers pepper sprayed him in his cell after he started wrecking it around 10 a.m. Wednesday and barricading himself inside, the Bureau of Prisons said.

More:
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-brooklyn-inmate-mdc-death-mace-asthma-release-20200604-efwqrabnm5ehljipmpp4jylsly-story.html

[mr_lebowski]

1. Ridiculous. Should be nothing TO wreck in a cell that's not the inmates in the first place.

And I suppose their cellmates if they share a cell.

Certainly nothing worth risking someone's life over.

RIP Mr. Floyd.

Huh ... that seems ... familiar ...

[janterry]

2. When people become out of control in a cell, several problems can develop

usually, when they get very out of control, they harm themselves. You pretty much have to go in to get them.

Of course, other things can happen, including flooding (they stuff the toilet to create floods).

I am not defending what happened. We have no idea what happened.

But you can't leave someone alone in a cell with possessions when they are out of control.

[SpankMe]

3. This is a tough one

The inmate was being violent, destructive and disruptive. They tried to use a nominally non-lethal method to subdue him, and he died due to either a reaction to the spray or due to some underlying medical condition.

This is tragic. The guy deserves his day in court and protection while in custody. But, I'm not ready to criticize the jail cops just yet. This doesn't sound like a George Floyd thing, yet.

[janterry]

7. People don't realize how dangerous it is to extract an inmate from a cell

I've heard about plenty of abusive situations in prison. But we underpay the guards, they are outnumbered by at least 50 to 1. The inmates have almost nothing to do all day (this causes HUGE problems in the dorms).

It's a very hard job. We are all responsible for how our prisons and jails are set up (if we don't fund them properly in the beginning - and provide enough resources in terms of guards and programming). Well.

[Miguelito Loveless]

9. Couple of things

1) We only have the jailer's word for what happened. We have learned many times they lie with impunity.

2) If we didn't treat prisoners like animals, we would have fewer problems of this sort.

[janterry]

12. There might be a video, we don't know

I never jump to conclusions in cases like these.

What I DO know is that jails and prisons are underfunded and that is OUR fault as a society.

[Archetypist]

4. "They knew he had asthma"

If true, they need to be charged with murder.

[safeinOhio]

5. Of course they had to kill him

...they had to stop him from harming or killing himself.

[forgotmylogin]

8. It should be a federal offense to use weapons of any type (fists, chemical) on a restrained person.

Even better, once a person or suspect is cuffed or restrained or locked in the back of a police cruiser, that person's well-being should be the responsibility of the person who put them there. If a person dies or suffers major injury while detained and unable to help themselves, the person who detained them should be criminally liable absent other extenuating circumstances.

Restrain your suspect if necessary, but after that, treat them with kid-gloves because you are responsible for what happens next. And that's a good reason keep your body cam on and working so people *know* for sure whose fault it was if something happens.

[SunSeeker]

10. K & R for exposure.

[Akacia]

11. It is very upsetting that the family had to find out about it on the news.

why in world were they not contacted first?