Rikers Island inmate with suspected scarlet fever dies after jail staff block medical help: records

A Rikers Island inmate with suspected scarlet fever died after jail staff repeatedly blocked medical workers from treating her, according to advocates and records.

Charizma Jones, 23, died last week — more than two months after EMS personnel rushed her from the troubled jail to a Queens hospital, a letter from attorneys with The Legal Aid Society obtained by The Post states.

The letter sent Monday to the Board of Correction raises concerns whether jail staff letting a fever-riddled, rash-covered Jones languish untreated for two days led to her death — a question also raised by MK Kaishian, an attorney for Jones’ family.

“Many troubling questions surround Ms. Jones’ death, and we join the Legal Aid Society in calling for a thorough investigation by the Board of Correction as we continue to gather critical information on behalf of her family,” Kashian told The Post.

“But whatever else may be revealed going forward, it is patently obvious that the [Department of Correction] denied medical care to a seriously ill person, and there is no excuse whatsoever for this contemptuous and inhumane conduct.”

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Medical records obtained by The Post detail repeated attempts by city Correctional Medical Services workers to treat Jones — who had a rash covering her body, a 102-degree fever, sore throat, chills and vomiting — during May 5 and May 6 in the jail’s infirmary.

But DOC staff refused to let the medical workers even enter Jones’ infirmary cell to check her vital signs because they deemed her a security risk after she allegedly assaulted a correction officer, the Legal Aid letter states.

“Several attempts were made to do vitals,” medical records state. “DOC officer on duty refused to opn (sic) cell.”

Jones, who had been given antibiotics and a steroid to treat presumptive scarlet fever, eventually was sped to Elmhurst Hospital May 6 within an hour of jail staff once again refusing to allow medical workers check her vital signs, the Legal Aid letter states.

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She remained hospitalized for months and her condition worsened beyond the scarlet fever initially suspected by medical workers, according to further medical records obtained by The Post.

Medical staff believed Jones had scarlet fever, although the diagnosis is unconfirmed, a source told The Post.

Scarlet fever is a bacterial disease with sandpaper-like rash that spreads over the body, according to Mount Sinai, in addition to other symptoms — many of which were exhibited by Jones. The disease was formerly a severe childhood disease but is now readily treated with antibiotics.

But records indicate that Jones, who had a history of liver failure, had developed a rash as potential allergic reaction from amoxicillin — the antibiotic she received for potential scarlet fever.

A doctor at New York-Presbyterian’s Weill Cornell burn center wrote July 10 that Jones’ worsening skin condition was coupled with multiple organ failure, making her unlikely to survive, records show.

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She died July 14.

Jones hailed from the Bronx and was serving a one-year sentence for assault, according to the New York Daily News, which first reported the Legal Aid letter and records.

DOC and Correctional Medical Services representatives didn’t return The Post’s requests for comment.

Mayor Eric Adams, when asked about Jones’ death during an unrelated news conference Tuesday, said his heart goes out to her family.

“Anytime you lose someone, no matter if they’re incarcerated or not, it’s just, it’s terrible,” he said.

“There should be a review. If there was someone that blocked her medical care, I don’t know of a time that you should block someone’s medical care,” he said, before emphasizing she didn’t die on Rikers Island.

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