NYC jail guard charged in connection with inmate's death

By Nate Raymond NEW YORK (Reuters) - A guard at New York City's Rikers Island jail complex was indicted on Monday for failing to keep watch the night a mentally ill, homeless Marine Corps veteran died in a cell with heat topping 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius) Carol Lackner, 35, was indicted in state court in Bronx, New York, on charges she failed to tour and inspect the inmates under her charge and made false log entries claiming she did her tour the night Jerome Murdough, 56, died in February 2014. New York City last month agreed to pay $2.25 million to the Murdough's family. The city medical examiner's office previously ruled his death was not a homicide, but was caused by hyperthermia due to exposure to heat. Her indictment came amid heightened scrutiny of Rikers, one of the world's largest jail complexes, which houses some 11,400 inmates on an average day. She was indicted as jury selection completed in the trial of another guard, Terrence Pendergrass. Federal prosecutors say he deliberately ignored the medical needs of a mentally ill inmate who died after swallowing a corrosive disinfectant. That case was brought by Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, whose office in August also said it found a pattern of abuse of 16- and 17-year-old inmates caused by excessive force by guards and violence by others being held there. The New York City comptroller released a report in October finding violence at Rikers had increased over the past seven years, even as spending rose and the inmate population declined. Lackner faces 26 counts in the indictment, which included charges of falsifying business records, offering a false instrument for filing, and official misconduct. She faces up to four years in prison if convicted, the Bronx County District Attorney's Office said in a statement. A lawyer for Lackner did not respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in New York. Editing by Andre Grenon)