NYC man dead at Rikers Island had been moved to new jail cell over safety fear, says family
A man who died a week ago in a Rikers Island jail on one of the coldest nights of the winter was transferred to a new cell early that morning over fears for his safety in a different jail, his brother told the Daily News Friday.
Manuel Luna, 30, whose friends call him “Panda,” was originally housed in a dorm in a set of structures on the island known as “The Sprungs,” which were supposed to be temporary but have been in place since the 1990s.
Luna was moved to cell No. 4 in unit 5A in the George R. Vierno Center at 2 a.m. on Jan. 20. He was dead 19 hours later.
“He wanted to move to a cell when he would feel safer,” said his brother Angel Luna, 35, a chief petty officer in the U.S. Navy stationed in Bahrain. “That morning he spoke to our niece and his lawyer. He was upbeat about his case and ready to continue his life, and then this happened.”
The News previously reported the 5-foot-9, 240-pound Luna was found unresponsive just before 9 p.m. by a correction captain who was bringing him a mattress on a night when, records show, the outside temperature dropped below 25 degrees.
The city Medical Examiner has yet to conclude what killed him.
Court records show Luna was arrested Oct. 5 on robbery charges. The case included allegations that while Luna stole a battery from an e-bike in Harlem, he punched a man.
On Friday, relatives and advocates gathered outside City Hall to demand “accountability” for Luna’s death, which is subject to a series of reviews.
“The Correction Department is supposed to be responsible for the welfare and safety of the inmates,” said a second brother, Billy Torres, 39. “We demand answers. Our brother’s death will not be in vain.”
Torres claimed correction officials mishandled the death notification. An officer and then a chaplain called Luna’s niece but only asked for her address, and declined to say what the call was about.
“They said, ‘We can’t tell you,'” he said. “She thought it was a scam. She called back and they still wouldn’t tell us.”
Correction spokesman Frank Dwyer countered that the department kept the name confidential until a relative was reached Jan. 21.
Department policy requires confirmation the correct next-of-kin has been reached and in-person notification is arranged before news of a death is disclosed.
Luna was born in 1993 in the city but grew up largely in Costa Rica. He and his sister were separated from their two brothers for years before they finally reunited in roughly 2009, Angel Luna said.
“It was always a back-and-forth thing because of the distance,” he said, noting his brother “grew up in hardship.”
In 2012, at age 19, Luna was arrested for his role in five muggings in Washington Heights, court records show. He was convicted in 2013 of robbery and burglary in Manhattan and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. He served some portion of that time in Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining.
After his release on parole from prison in November 2022, Luna was assisted by a nonprofit called Black and Pink, which supports LGBTQ and HIV-positive prisoners.
Organizer Chelsea Meacham described Luna as a “sweet and gentle being,” and said the group helped him navigate his housing needs and his effort to find a job.
He struggled with the red tape that often confronts former prisoners. “It was sort of laughable the hoops he had to go through just to get an ID,” Meacham said. “There was kind of an endless loop he was stuck in. He could not catch a break.”
In his bio for Black and Pink, Luna described how he was changing. “I was young and ignorant, never wanted to take advice. But I realize it’s time to grow up and learn from my mistakes.”
Luna lived in temporary housing and then moved to a shelter, Meacham said. He also participated in a post-prison program that provided job training, his family said.
Court records show Luna was arrested Sept. 24 for robbery following the incident involving the e-bike on W. 116th St. near Malcolm X. Blvd.
The victim told cops that he saw two men remove the battery from his e-bike, the records show. When the victim tried to intervene, he was punched in the chest by one of the men and then punched several times in the face by both.
The alleged assault was captured on video, the records show. Luna was arrested 11 days later.
Luna died a day after Mayor Adams vetoed a bill aimed at banning the use of solitary confinement in the jails on the grounds that it would make the system less safe.
“The veto shows a disregard for low income black and brown New Yorkers,” said Council Member Tiffany Caban (D-Queens).”A veto says I want to keep pumping money into criminalization and I refuse to put money into housing and mental health.”
Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said later Friday the council intends to vote to override the mayor’s veto on Tuesday. Adams said solitary confinement “only makes violence worse in our jails and city.”
