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NEW YORK (AP) — A fireplace set by means of an inmate at New York Town’s stricken Rikers Island injured 20 folks on an afternoon that lawmakers visited the prison complicated, government mentioned.
Fifteen personnel individuals and 5 inmates had been injured within the hearth that began about 1:30 p.m. Thursday, town Correction Division mentioned. The New York Town Fireplace Division extinguished the blaze inside of an hour, a division spokesperson mentioned.
Fifteen of the injured had been taken to hospitals for remedy, whilst the opposite 5 declined scientific consideration, the Fireplace Division mentioned. Knowledge at the sufferers’ stipulations used to be now not to be had Friday.
“The well being and protection of those that paintings and reside in our amenities is our major precedence,” James Boyd, the Correction Division’s deputy commissioner for public knowledge, mentioned in a observation. “We take arson very critically, and can pursue re-arrest of the person concerned pending the result of the investigation.”
The fireplace broke out on an afternoon when a gaggle of Democratic state lawmakers visited Rikers Island to underscore their opposition to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s proposed adjustments to New York’s bail regulations. The plan to present judges higher leeway in atmosphere bail is likely one of the key problems stalling negotiations over the state price range.
The lawmakers famous the upward thrust in deaths at Rikers Island and warned of dire effects if bail reforms handed in 2019 are rolled again and extra inmates are despatched to Rikers and different jails.
“We can have blood on our fingers if we permit there to be those adjustments carried out in our New York state price range,” Meeting member Zohran Mamdani mentioned.
The state legislators didn’t discuss with the unit the place the fireplace happened and seem to have left prior to it used to be reported.
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