The blaze erupted at about 1:35 p.m. Thursday in the North Infirmary Command, which houses the island’s sickliest detainees, sources and the FDNY said.
A fire set inside a jail cell at the Rikers Island complex has left 20 injured, with the Department of Corrections vowing to re-arrest the inmate responsible.
Dennis Applewhite, 29, pleaded guilty Feb. 7 to a charge of attempted assault in the first degree for the unprovoked attack on the officer on Halloween last year in a protective custody unit in the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island.
"We witness firsthand the challenges that our older participants face when they come to us, usually because they no longer have family to turn to after such long periods of incarceration: physical health issues that might be less severe if treated properly sooner; unaddressed trauma, greatly exacerbated by incarceration; lack of financial resources; and homelessness."