By Barbara Ross
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — A rookie Correction Department officer who got the sack charges in a lawsuit that his boss told him he did not want to be “bothered” with the physical ills of inmates with mental health issues unless the inmate was “dead.”
Raymond Castro, who worked as a correction officer on Rikers Island before his employment was terminated, says in court papers that in August 2012 he told his supervisor, Captain Terrence Prendergrass, that an inmate had swallowed bleach and needed medical attention.
“‘Don’t call me if you have live, breathing bodies. Only call me if you need an extraction or if you have a dead body,’” Castro quotes Prendergrass as saying, according to his suit, which was filed Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court and argues that he was wrongfully terminated and ought to be reinstated.
The inmate, Jason Echevarria, died later that night.