A New York City correction officer was sentenced to two years’ probation and 250 hours of community service after failing to render aid for nearly eight minutes when an 18-year-old inmate at Rikers Island attempted to hang himself in 2019, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office announced.
Kenneth Hood, 38, was convicted in January by a Bronx jury on charges of reckless endangerment and official misconduct for his inaction in the Nov. 27, 2019, incident at the George R. Vierno Center. The inmate, Nicholas Feliciano, survived but suffered severe brain damage and remains in a residential facility.
“The defendant neglected his duty to protect those in custody,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement. “Mr. Feliciano survived but his future was shattered. The officer’s callousness is matched by the senselessness of his behavior.”
Hood, who was seated at his desk roughly 10 feet away from Feliciano’s cell, took no action for 7 minutes and 51 seconds after the young man tied two sweatshirts to the ceiling and stepped off a partition, cutting off his oxygen, according to court documents. Security video showed that when another officer opened the cell door to check on Feliciano, Hood told the officer to close it, which he did.
Correction officers are required to intervene immediately when they observe an inmate with a ligature around their neck attached to another object. Hood failed to act, and it wasn’t until nearly eight minutes had passed that Captain Terry Henry and two other officers cut Feliciano down.
Hood was sentenced on March 12 by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Audrey Stone. Prosecutors had sought a 364-day jail term. He was also ordered to undergo counseling.
Jocelyn E. Strauber, commissioner of the city’s Department of Investigation, said Hood’s actions violated his sworn duty.
“This suspended Correction Officer is now convicted and sentenced for his role in waiting almost eight minutes to provide aid to an inmate who attempted suicide in a holding cell at Rikers,” Strauber said. “Officers have a duty to protect persons in custody, and when they fail to do so, they will be held accountable.”
Hood’s supervisor, Captain Terry Henry, was found not guilty of the same charges. Two other officers involved in the case, Daniel Fullerton and Mark Wilson, pleaded guilty to lesser offenses in October 2023.
Hood was fired from the Department of Correction following his conviction, officials said.
Feliciano, who had been arrested for a parole violation, sustained permanent brain damage due to the delay in aid. His family filed a lawsuit against the city, which was settled in April for $28 million—one of the largest settlements for a jail-related incident in city history.
“You got people walking by seeing him hanging, and nobody intervenes. How does that happen?” Feliciano’s grandmother, Madeline Feliciano, told NY1 after the settlement.
The case drew renewed attention to the conditions at Rikers Island, where the city’s jail system has faced repeated scrutiny over inmate safety and staff misconduct.
