The Legal Aid Society decried the passing of Isaabdul Karim, a client who died over the weekend while incarcerated at Rikers Island. He is the eleventh New Yorker this year to die in custody at a local jail, as reported by The New York Times.

Mr. Karim was incarcerated at Rikers Island’s North Infirmary Command, held solely on the basis of non-criminal, technical violations of parole – marijuana use and failing to make an office report.

“He should have been released,” said Lorraine McEvilley, Director of the Parole Revocation Defense Unit at The Legal Aid Society. “It’s an illustration of the life-or-death situation people are in when they are locked up on parole violations.”

The Less is More legislation, which Governor Hochul signed last week, comprehensively reforms the State’s parole system and her action should result in the immediate release of nearly 200 individuals from Rikers. Legal Aid continues to call for the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision to heed Governor Hochul’s call to action and lift all technical parole warrants immediately, as well as lift warrants in cases where people are held on parole violations and low bail.

“He should have been in the community with his family, friends and network, not in a jail plagued by an ongoing humanitarian crisis,” said Tina Luongo, Attorney-in-Charge of The Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Defense Practice. “Technical violations — including marijuana use and failing to report, the noncriminal charges that led to Mr. Karim’s remand — should not amount to a death sentence.”