NYC Rikers inmate dies of skull fracture recorded as 'headache'

An autopsy confirmed that a 31-year-old mentally ill Rikers detainee died of a skull fracture — even after top city correction officials, including the commissioner, had claimed he had a heart attack or suffered from "headaches," the court-appointed monitor of New York City jail violence disclosed Wednesday.

Joshua Valles (Handout)

Joshua Valles, arrested April 7 on burglary and petty larceny charges in Manhattan, died Monday at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, where he had been in a coma since May 20.

The federal court monitor, Steve Martin, only found out about the Valles’ hospitalization two days afterward, on May 22, and then only in broad strokes.

In a statement, Department of Correction officials said Valles was technically released from custody May 24 while he was comatose at Elmhurst.

Valles is one of five cases in May where the Martin and his monitoring staff have alleged attempted coverups or delayed reporting of serious incidents. The controversy has renewed momentum for a takeover of the jails by an outside entity.

"These efforts to hide information and limit transparency are part of a consistent pattern in which DOC has sought to keep outside eyes away from Rikers Island," the Legal Aid Society said Wednesday.

Rikers Island (Seth Wenig/AP)

"The city cannot be permitted to isolate the jails from outside oversight, especially at a time when so many people are suffering severe harm and death."

The society noted DOC stripped remote video access from the city Board of Correction, sharply hindering its oversight role of the agency.

On Wednesday, Manhattan Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered a special hearing on the conflict for June 13.

Meanwhile, the city Department of Investigation is looking into the Valles case and has requested information on the other four cases in Martin's report on Friday as part of a review into possible Correction staff misconduct.

The autopsy in Valles’ death raises questions about the accounts of top officials in the Correction Department.

In a letter obtained Tuesday by the Daily News, Molina told the monitor, "There was no departmental wrongdoing" in the Valles incident.

Molina contended there was no evidence anyone submitted a false report or tried to cover up wrongdoing.

The federal monitor report says Valles complained on May 20 about suffering headaches. He was transported from his Rikers jail, the Anna M. Kross Center, to Elmhurst Hospital Center for evaluation for what the monitor said was deemed by correction officials to be a "nonincident related medical condition or injury."

Molina in his letter wrote that Valles left the jail "on his own power" and "quickly took a turn for the worse." At the hospital, Valles was placed on life support, Molina reported.

On May 23, Correction Department General Counsel Paul Shechtman insisted Valles "appeared to have a heart attack and no foul play is currently suspected."

Shechtman later claimed to the monitor the department is "unsure" how Valles suffered the skull fracture, but suggested it could relate to a month-old fight between him and other detainees.

"There is no question that investigation of this incident is necessary and that the commissioner's conclusions about this incident reported to the monitoring team are premature, at best," the monitor wrote.

Valles’ lawyers, New York County Defender Services, said he had no criminal record and was jailed on "nonviolent property-related offenses."

Under the 2020 bail reforms, Valles would not have been jailed — but changes to the bail laws in 2022 allowed a judge to set bail of $10,000 in his case, his lawyers said.

"There is something clearly amiss in what the department is reporting publicly," the lawyers said in a statement that asked the state attorney general's office to investigate Valles’ death.

Also mentioned in Martin's report was Daniel Cruz, 39, who was badly beaten just before dawn May 17 by other inmates at the Eric M. Taylor Center at Rikers.

He was left in an empty pen, naked and without help from staff for several hours, the monitor report said.

Cruz suffered internal bleeding, broken ribs and a ruptured spleen. He had emergency surgery.

The monitor found out about it May 19 from an outside source. Three days after the assault, on May 20, it was finally reported to the Correction Department's central operations desk. Under department policy, the incident should have been reported within an hour.

As of Friday, correction officials had not briefed Martin and his staff on the incident, despite being required to do so, the report said.

"It is not for commissioner, or any employee or agent of any party to determine what the monitor may need to perform his duties," the monitor said.

In his letter, Molina countered, "I don't know what you would expect. The department's general counsel told the monitor by telephone that several interviews of staff had been scheduled and that appropriate disciplinary action would be taken."

Four men were linked to the attack on Cruz and will be charged with felony gang assault and jail assault, a correction official said.

"The safety and security of everyone who works and lives in our facilities is our No. 1 priority," Molina said in a statement.