From [HERE] The death of a mentally ill Black veteran in an overheated cell at Rikers Island this year was accidental, the New York City medical examiner’s office ruled on Friday in a case that drew scrutiny to abusive conditions at the jail complex.

The inmate, Jerome Murdough, died on Feb. 15, when temperatures in his cell in a mental health unit at Rikers climbed to over 100 degrees.

Mr. Murdough, 57, died of hyperthermia caused by exposure to the heat, said Julie Bolcer, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office. The heat’s interaction with an antipsychotic medication he was taking for a schizoaffective disorder contributed to his death, she said.

Ms. Bolcer said she could not comment on whether the ruling had any legal consequences, adding that only medical considerations were taken into account.

Even so, the ruling that the death was accidental raised questions about culpability.

Mr. Murdough’s death provoked outrage among the city’s elected officials, including Mayor Bill de Blasio, and focused media attention on the conditions at Rikers Island, where inmates frequently endure severe abuse and neglect. Last week, the family of another inmate who died at the jail, Bradley Ballard, sued the city, claiming that he had been locked in a cell for seven days last year and denied food, water and medication he needed to control his schizophrenia and diabetes.

On Monday, the city announced that it had hired a management consulting firm [more white people], McKinsey & Co., to recommend changes to improve Rikers.

Mr. Murdough was arrested a week before he died and charged with trespassing after a police officer found him in the stairwell of a public housing building in Harlem. He told the officer that he had sought shelter there from the cold. [MORE]