New York City has agreed to pay $4 million to settle a lawsuit over the death of Tarz Youngblood, a 38-year-old man who died of an accidental drug overdose at Rikers Island in February 2022 after, according to his estate's lawyers, correction officers missed required safety rounds and fellow detainees were left to carry him to help instead of trained staff.
A Settlement Still Awaiting Court Sign-Off
The deal resolves a 2023 lawsuit filed by Youngblood's estate and still requires court approval before it becomes final, according to The New York Times. Youngblood became unresponsive inside another inmate's cell on February 27, 2022, while other detainees were present, and he was later pronounced dead at Elmhurst Hospital, the Times reported. The city medical examiner determined his cause of death was an accidental fentanyl and heroin overdose.
A city Law Department spokesman confirmed a settlement in principle and referenced a related court docket filing, the Times reported, after a Department of Correction spokesman had directed the newspaper to the Law Department for comment. The outlet's report does not detail what, if anything, the city said in response to the estate's specific allegations.
Officers Allegedly Missed Rounds Before the Overdose
A Board of Correction report found that correction officers missed expected rounds at required intervals in the hours before Youngblood's death, per the Times' account of the findings. The same report described how other detainees, not staff, carried Youngblood down the stairs and attempted emergency aid on their own. Medical staff did not arrive until eight minutes after detainees had already brought him to the main floor, according to the board's findings as relayed by the Times.
Samuel O. Maduegbuna, the attorney who represented Youngblood's estate, said fellow detainees had to recognize the emergency, respond, and try to save Youngblood themselves instead of trained correction personnel doing so. Maduegbuna also said Youngblood had three children. Lawyers for the estate argued that negligent conditions, inadequate staffing, and improper medical treatment at Rikers all contributed to his death.
One of a Record Number of Deaths in City Custody
Youngblood's death was the first of 19 deaths recorded in New York City jails in 2022, a toll separately described by the New York City Comptroller as a record high for deaths in city custody that year. A city government publication similarly reported that 19 deaths occurred in New York City jails in 2022. It was not the only costly settlement tied to that year: the Comptroller's office also announced a $2.25 million settlement with the family of Kevin Bryan, who died in Department of Correction custody on Rikers Island in 2022.
New York City has faced this kind of litigation before. In 2019, the city reached a $3.5 million settlement over the 2014 death of a different Rikers inmate whose family said he had been deprived of his seizure medication, according to the Associated Press. That case is a separate comparable and not connected to Youngblood's.
Rikers' Closure Remains Years Behind Schedule
The city's 2019 plan called for closing Rikers Island entirely, moving detainees to other jail facilities, and reducing the overall jail population. More recently, the Mamdani administration appointed a Rikers czar tasked with advancing that closure plan, according to the Times' reporting. The settlement over Youngblood's death arrives as the city continues to confront questions about staffing and conditions at the jail complex that have persisted for years.
