Prison complex next to north-south runway of LaGuardia.
RIKERS ISLAND JAIL complex next to the north-south runway of LaGuardia Airport.
Photo courtesy of formulanone via Flickr
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced Wednesday, July 23, that a NYC Department of Correction (DOC) Officer has been sentenced to a conditional discharge for falsifying suicide prevention training for dozens of officers.
“During the growing crisis of inmate suicides in 2021, and apparently amid pressure to increase the number of officers taking a suicide prevention course, the defendant directed a group of officers to take the training for 74 of their colleagues,” Clark said in reference to the case. “This was a callous disregard for correction officers’ duty to care for those in custody.”
Clark said the defendant, Vinette Tucker-Frederick, 43, a correction officer for nine years who was assigned to the Anna M. Kross Center (AMKC) on Rikers Island, was sentenced Wednesday to a conditional discharge by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Timothy Lewis.
The news comes as another death in DOC custody on Rikers Island was reported by NYC Department of Correction yesterday, July 22. Officials said Edwin Quispe, 33, was found on the floor of a bathroom at the Eric M. Taylor Center. They said a medical emergency was declared and an officer provided aid to Quispe and medical staff responded but could not revive him. They said he was pronounced deceased at 8:28 a.m.
Though not the same department, the news also comes as 18-year-old Saniyah Cheatham died by suicide, according to the City’s medical examiner, while in police custody at the 41st Precinct in the Longwood section of the Bronx on July 5, after being arrested for assault.
Saniyah’s family through an attorney has called for transparency, accountability, and the release of video footage of the events leading up to her death, a call reiterated by several people at her funeral held in Manhattan on July 22. An NYPD investigation into the incident is currently underway as reported.
Meanwhile, NYC Department of Investigation (DOI) Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said of the latest case involving the correction officer, “Correction officers are required to take suicide prevention training so that they know how to identify persons in custody in crisis who may need immediate medical and mental health services.”
She added, “This correction officer falsified records to reflect that 74 officers had taken the training when they had not, enabling officers to skip this critical course, thereby jeopardizing the safety of persons in custody. I thank DOC and the Bronx District Attorney’s Office for their continued partnership to ensure correction officers fulfill their responsibilities to maintain safety in the City’s jails.”
On May 15, 2025, a jury convicted Tucker-Frederick on 25 counts of first-degree tampering with public records, 25 counts of first-degree identity theft, and official misconduct.
Photo by Síle Moloney
Clark said the People had recommended a sentence of one year in jail.
According to the joint investigation by the Bronx DA’s public integrity bureau and NYC Department of Investigation, in the Spring of 2021, a mandatory refresher course on suicide prevention was made available to Rikers Island staff which was to be taken online at the jail. Tucker-Frederick, a control room officer with significant authority in determining officers’ assignments, directed multiple officers to take the training while posing as 74 fellow officers who actually were on leave.
Officials said she provided the personal identification and log-in information for the absent colleagues and when each course was completed, an entry was generated in the DOC training records indicating the absent officers had taken the required training.
Officials at the Bronx DA’s office said the case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Tyler Lee Gibson, Supervising Assistant District Attorney Cassie Perez, and Major Case Assistant District Attorney Jared Rosen of the Public Integrity Bureau, under the supervision of Sarah Clements, deputy chief of the Public Integrity Bureau, and under the overall supervision of Denise Kodjo, deputy chief of the Investigations Division, and Wanda Perez-Maldonado, chief of the Investigations Division.
Clark thanked Trial Preparation Assistant Brianna Rodriguez for her assistance in the case, as well as NYC Department of Investigation / NYC Department of Correction Captain Antonio Fonseca of DOI’s Office of the Inspector General for DOC, under the supervision of Inspector General Marissa Carro and Deputy Commissioner/Chief of Investigations Dominick Zarrella.
Health officials say if you have had thoughts of suicide, it might help to create or update a suicide safety plan. They said this plan will provide you with a list of steps you can follow to feel safe if you think about harming yourself. They said if you do not have a suicide safety plan, you can use this Safety Plan Template (PDF) as a guide.
They said you can help prevent suicide by learning the warning signs and said the risk of suicide is greater if a behavior is new, has increased, and seems related to a painful event, loss or change.
They said the following signs may mean someone is at risk for suicide:
- Talking about wanting to die or to kill themselves.
- Looking for a way to kill themselves, such as searching online or buying a gun.
- Talking about feeling hopeless or having no reason to live.
- Talking about feeling trapped, a burden or in unbearable pain.
- Increasing the use of alcohol or drugs.
- Acting anxious, agitated or behaving recklessly.
- Sleeping too little or too much.
- Withdrawing or isolating themselves.
- Showing rage or talking about seeking revenge.
- Displaying extreme mood swings.
- Giving away possessions.
- Saying goodbye to family and friends.
Call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Help is available in English and Spanish 24 hours a day.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.