Leonard Carter
Leonard Carter, 60, died of COVID-19 on April 14, 2020, while held at Queensboro Correctional Facility in Long Island City, Queens. His relatives wrote to state Senate leaders that he had been granted parole in early 2020 and had worked for years as a counselor in the Sing Sing Mental Health Unit, and they say he was not released. His sister, Cynthia Carter-Young, said he had told her he was just having trouble breathing before he died, and she said she spent most of a federal stimulus check on his funeral. Advocates and a habeas petition filed in Queens County Supreme Court say that after his death only the residents of his unit, 5-S, were briefly quarantined and that no other residents of 5-S or neighboring 5-N were tested. The state corrections department said testing follows its criteria, which the facility's population had not met.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (disputed; neglect alleged). The state corrections department attributes his death to COVID-19, while advocates and a habeas petition say that after his death only residents of unit 5-S were quarantined and no other residents were tested, and his relatives say he had been granted parole but was not released.
Reported by: New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) (the agency that held him); Patch reporting on New York Department of Corrections and Community Supervision data (reporters); habeas petition in Queens County Supreme Court (family or their lawyers); relatives, in a letter to state Senate leaders (family or their lawyers); advocates.
Sources (6)
- News report
- Inmate at Long Island City correctional facility dies of COVID-19 complications six weeks before release
- New York state will give all inmates face masks as COVID-19 death toll rises
- After LIC Inmate's Coronavirus Death, Lack Of Testing Persists
- NY state prison chief under fire from families of people who died behind bars from COVID and violence