Amid an escalating rate of suicides at Rikers Island in 2021, Bronx prosecutors say a correction officer falsified records to show that 74 officers took a suicide prevention training course that they didn’t actually take.
Vinette Tucker-Frederick, a 41-year-old officer who has worked with the Department of Correction for nine years, was charged Friday with tampering with public records, identity theft and official misconduct. A Department of Correction spokesperson said Tucker-Frederick has been suspended indefinitely without pay.
Gothamist reported in October of last year that fewer than one in five city correction officers took a mandated course on preventing suicide over the prior 12 months. The lack of training coincided with a spike in detainee deaths by suicide. Twelve people died by suicide in city jails in 2021 and 2022, according to city records, compared to five in the preceding six years combined.
In May 2021, Tucker-Frederick allegedly gave a group of officers the log-in information for officers who were out on leave, and instructed the group to take the computerized suicide prevention training course for their colleagues who were not at work.
“Scores of officers unknowingly were credited with taking the training despite the fact that they weren’t even on Rikers Island, some were in the hospital undergoing surgery, caring for seriously ill loved ones, or nursing their newborn children,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement.
Since 2021, the percentage of officers taking suicide prevention courses has increased, according to the Department of Correction. As of Friday, 68% of uniformed staff have taken the annual suicide refresher course, though a spokesperson noted that number is always in flux.
Every correction officer recruit also gets nearly 10 hours of suicide prevention training at the academy when they first join the department. And a new video on self-harm produced by the Department of Correction is shown during officer…
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