New York’s troubled city jail system recorded its fifth inmate death Wednesday — just hours after a federal monitor released its plan to reform the “severe and potentially life-threatening” conditions inside the lockups.
Mary Yehudah, 31, died at 5:11 a.m. Wednesday, city Department of Correction officials said. Officials did not reveal how she died, saying the Medical Examiner’s Office will determine cause of death.
Correction’s sources say Yehudah was found unresponsive in her cell the day prior during an officer’s 9 a.m. rounds.
Jail medics revived Yehudah with Narcan, indicating she may have suffered a drug overdose, and EMS rushed her to Elmhurst Hospital, where sources said she was breathing on her own.
She died the next morning at the hospital, the sources said.
Yehudah had been held on $10,000 cash bail since February on charges of first-degree robbery, court records show.
“Ms. Yehudah’s passing fills us with sadness, every life here is precious,” DOC Commissioner Louis Molina said. “Our thoughts are with her family and loved ones.”
Yehudah was indicted after allegedly robbing a man at knifepoint on Sept. 6, 2020, according to the Bronx DA’s Office. She had missed her court date the next month and posted her $1,000 bail after being taken back before a judge in May 2021, the DA’s office said.
Her bail was increased to $10,000 in February when she appeared in court on a warrant for missing another appearance in June 2021, according to the DA’s office.
On Tuesday afternoon, federal monitor Steve Martin outlined a blueprint for how Mayor Eric Adams’ administration should address the dangerous conditions inside the city jail system.
The fourth death in DOC custody happened just 10 days ago when a 25-year-old Rikers Island inmate, Dashawn Carter, hanged himself.
The pace of deaths in custody this year is on pace with last year, when 16 people died in city lockups, the most since 2013.