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December 18, 2014

Rikers Jail Officer Convicted for Death of Prisoner Who Ate Soap Ball 
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A former corrections captain at New York's Rikers Island jail complex
has been convicted of violating the civil rights of a mentally ill
prisoner who ate a packet of toxic detergent and was left to die in his
cell. In 2012, Jason Echevarria pleaded for help for hours as the
detergent burned his insides. Captain Terrence Pendergrass repeatedly
ignored reports of the prisoner's illness, at one point telling a
subordinate he shouldn't be bothered unless "there was a dead body."
Echevarria was found dead the next morning. Pendergrass could face up to
10 years in prison following his conviction.

 

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