Prisoner ripped his own eyeball out twice in front of horrified guards
A prison inmate reportedly gouged his own eye out twice as horrified corrections officers pleaded for him to stop.
The inmate at Rikers Island in New York City committed the gruesome act of self-mutilation over the weekend, The New York Daily News reported.
After the inmate’s first attempt to take his left eye out, guards attempted to restrain him and took him on a gurney to the prison medical clinic for a mental evaluation. The prisoner’s eye was still reportedly attached by his optic nerve and doctors were able to put it back into the socket – but the inmate then grabbed an item, believed to be a plastic spoon, and removed his eye again.
Pictures obtained by The Daily reportedly show the inmate lying in a hospital bed with his eyes closed. Another horrific photo shows a blue-gloved hand holding a cup with an eyeball inside.
The inmate has not been identified by prison officials.
Rikers Island has reportedly been hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak in New York and prisoners are being offered $6 per hour and personal protective equipment to dig mass graves on Hart Island, which is New York City’s largest mass grave for unclaimed bodies, The Intercept reported.
A spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office has confirmed the arraignment with prisoners at Rikers Island, but said it was not ‘Covid-specific.’
In late March, officials at Rikers Island confirmed more than 50 coronavirus cases at the facility as about a hundred other inmates awaited test results. It is unclear how many cases have since been confirmed at the facility.