A Rikers Island inmate who was convicted on rape charges last month was found dead in a shower early Monday, marking the 12th in-custody death at the Department of Correction this year, jailhouse sources exclusively told The Post.
Ricardo Cruciani, 68, was found in a shower with a sheet around his neck, dead from an apparent suicide, sources said.
The FDNY confirmed to The Post they responded to the jail around 6 a.m. and attempted to resuscitate Cruciani, who was unconscious and suffered cardiac arrest, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Cruciani had only entered Rikers on July 29 after his conviction and was in the much-maligned Eric M. Taylor Center, which houses new admissions, the sources said.
Sources claimed Cruciani was on suicide watch and the officer assigned to watch over him had left their post, a claim the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association denied.
“Typically, when an inmate enters our custody for the first time, facing a serious high profile crime, they are put under suicide watch, which requires an additional officer to supervise that inmate,” Benny Boscio, the president of COBA, said in a statement.
“The fact that this inmate wasn’t put under suicide watch raises serious questions. Our officers were not responsible for this tragic incident, which was clearly a managerial failure.”
The DOC and Correctional Health Services, which determines if inmates should be placed on suicide watch, didn’t immediately confirm whether Cruciani was in general population or comment on COBA’s statement.
EMTC has been accused of squalid conditions and an alarming lack of staff – and one jailhouse source questioned how the death occurred.
“How long were they in the shower without them noticing?” the source asked.
Louis Molina, the commissioner of the DOC, said the death is under investigation.
“I am deeply saddened to learn of the passing of this person in custody. We will conduct a preliminary internal review to determine the circumstances surrounding his death. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones,” Molina said.
Cruciani’s passing marks the third apparent or confirmed suicide this year and the 12th in-custody death, a 50% increase from the eight such fatalities this time last year, records show.
In 2021, there were six suicides among 16 in-custody deaths – the most since 2016 and more than 2019 and 2020 combined.
Tamara Carter, whose son Brandon Rodriguez committed suicide in a shower cell on August 10 last year, criticized the DOC for failing to keep charges alive while in-custody.
“To find out not even after a week of the first anniversary of my son’s death that someone else has died in a shower cell is heartbreaking. Have they learned nothing?” Carter, a member of the advocacy group Freedom Agenda, said in a statement.
“They’re showing us they don’t care about the 27 lives lost before today. This saddens me to the core. How can we start to heal when the deaths continue?”
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts or are experiencing a mental health crisis and live in New York City, you can call 1-888-NYC-WELL for free and confidential crisis counseling. If you live outside the five boroughs, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention hotline at 1-800-273-8255 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
