Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced on Thursday, Aug. 10, that a Rikers Island inmate has been charged with an attempted escape for allegedly trying to flee the jail disguised as a corrections officer.

 

In the context of the announcement, Clark said, “The defendant allegedly stole a correction officer uniform, put it on and was stopped on his way to an exit when an officer grew suspicious and detained him.”

 

Clark said the defendant, Bokeem Jones, 28, of Brooklyn, was arraigned on Thursday on two counts of attempted escape in the first degree, attempted escape in the second degree, and attempted escape in the third degree before Bronx Supreme Court Justice Kim Parker. She said he was detained and is due back in court on Nov. 13.

 

According to the investigation, on July 27, Jones was in the Otis Bantum Correctional Center when he allegedly walked into an area that was off limits to detainees. In the area were plastic bags containing the belongings of correction officers with NYC Department of Correction (DOC), who had left them there when the facility closed for renovations several years ago.

 

Jones allegedly found a uniform that fit him, put it on, and taking an umbrella that was also left in the area, used it to block his face. He allegedly walked past multiple officers, with one officer unlocking the door for him so he could enter the intake area. On his way to an exit, Jones was asked for his DOC shield by a correction officer who became suspicious. When he couldn’t provide it, he was detained.

 

The case is being prosecuted by a Senior Investigative Assistant District Attorney Miriam Bell-Blair, under the supervision of Jonathan Abramovitz, director of Rikers Island Violence Reduction Initiative, Jose Arocho, deputy chief of the bureau, and Francis Alberts, chief of the 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 DOC Correction Officer Investigators Walter Holmes and John Cammisuli of the Correction Intelligence Bureau for their work with the investigation.

 

A person arrested and charged with a crime is deemed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.