Defendant Convicted of Misconduct and Reckless Endangerment; 18-Year-Old Nicholas Feliciano Survived Hanging, Suffered Permanent Brain Damage
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a New York City Department of Correction Officer was sentenced to two years’ probation and 250 hours of community service for failing to help an inmate who tried to commit suicide by hanging himself in a Rikers Island holding cell in 2019.
District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant neglected his duty to protect those in custody, namely Nicholas Feliciano, a young man so desperate he tried to take his own life. Mr. Feliciano survived but his future was shattered. The officer’s callousness is matched by the senselessness of his behavior.”
New York City Department of Investigation Commissioner Jocelyn E. Strauber said, “This suspended Correction Officer is now convicted and sentenced for his role in waiting almost eight minutes to provide aid to an inmate who attempted suicide in a holding cell at Rikers. The inmate suffered severe brain damage due to the delay. Officers have a duty to protect persons in custody and when they fail to do so, they will be held accountable. I thank the Bronx District Attorney’s Office for its partnership on this investigation and continuing commitment to ensure that safety and security in the City’s jails.”
District Attorney Clark said DOC Correction Officer Kenneth Hood, 38, was sentenced on March 12, 2025, to two years’ probation with required counseling and 250 hours of community service by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Audrey Stone. The People had requested 364 days in jail. He was found guilty by a jury of Official Misconduct and second-degree Reckless Endangerment on January 28, 2025.
According to the facts brought out at trial, on November 27, 2019, in the George R. Vierno Center, Mr. Feliciano tied two sweatshirts to the ceiling of the holding cell and wrapped them around his neck and stepped off a partition, causing the sweatshirts to constrict his neck and cut off his oxygen. Hood was seated at his desk about 10 feet away from Mr. Feliciano’s cell and took no action over the course of seven minutes and 51 seconds. Correction Officers are required to act whenever they observe a ligature around an inmate’s neck that is attached to another object.
When a fellow officer opened the cell to check on Mr. Feliciano, Hood told the officer to close the cell door, which he did. Feliciano suffered significant brain damage and is currently in a residential facility.
District Attorney Clark thanked DOI for its investigation conducted by the DOI Office of the Inspector General for DOC, supervised by Inspector General Marissa Carro, Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Initiatives Christopher Ryan, and Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella.
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