Four Injured After Detainee At Queens Jail Attacks Cellmates

KEW GARDENS, QUEENS — Four corrections officers were hospitalized after a detainee being held in a Queens jail started attacking other cellmates Tuesday morning, according to the city Department of Corrections.

A detainee in the Queens Detention Complex started attacking other cellmates about 9 a.m., then put up a fight when the four corrections officers intervened, a Department of Corrections spokesperson told Patch.

One corrections officer was head-butted while another officer tried to stop the fight by pepper-spraying the detainees, according to the New York Daily News.

Three corrections officers and one captain went to a nearby hospital with minor injuries. A detainee was also hospitalized, the Daily News reported.

“The safety and well-being of all DOC personnel and those in our custody is our top priority," Department of Corrections press secretary Jason Kersten said. "We are investigating this incident and will pursue further action as necessary."

While the city largely decommissioned the jail in 2002, the facility is still used to house men who are scheduled to appear next door in Queens County Criminal Court. Detainees only stay there for hours at a time and not overnight, officials previously told Patch.

The jail is due to be bulldozed and replaced under the city's proposal to build a new jail in every borough but Staten Island by 2026, which city officials say would pave the way to closing the notoriously brutal detention facilities on Rikers Island.

The City Council approved that proposal in October.

The Kew Gardens jail would stand 19 stories tall and have 886 beds, according to the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice.

City officials claim the cost of building a new facility on the site of the Queens Detention Complex is comparable to the cost of redoing the existing jail to fit their vision for a "modern" facility with space for community programming.