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An inmate was left slashed and covered in blood in an attack at Rikers Island, as violence continues to plague the notorious jail complex, The Post has learned.
The inmate, who is in his 30s and a member of the Bloods gang, was allegedly attacked by two rival gang members, Raheem Patterson and Khallid Garris, Thursday afternoon at the George R. Vierno Center, internal records show.
When a correction officer intervened and deployed pepper spray to break up the fracas, Garris, who is being held on murder charges, ran into his cell, where staffers found a large pocket knife stashed inside a peanut butter jar, the records say.
The Department of Correction said the injured detainee was taken to the hospital and they are pursuing re-arrest of the suspects involved.
On Monday, an apparent machete that the DOC described as a “kitchen-type knife” was found in a janitor’s closet during a “special search” of the Otis Bantum Correctional Center.
Jailhouse sources say such weapons are “unheard of in the jail.”
“Everybody seems to be getting more bold. The slashing happened with a real knife. This is unheard of in the jails,” the veteran source said, referring to the makeshift weapons that are typically used to commit violence at the jail.
“Never in my career have I ever seen anything like this. We don’t know how these are getting inside the building … someone is going to get killed.”
An image that shows three inmates grinning inside a cell at OBCC shows one of them clutching the machete, but the detainee holding the weapon was discharged in January, sources said.
“There is no telling how long it’s been in the building,” the source said.
Last week, more than 50 scalpel blades were found wrapped in black electrical tape behind a toilet in the male visitors’ bathroom, records show.
When Mayor Eric Adams took office and appointed Commissioner Louis Molina to helm the Department of Correction, he promised to bring safety and order back to Rikers Island, but jailhouse sources say chaos and violence is still running rampant.
For months, the jail has been embroiled in a crisis that has left detainees without critical services, such as medical care, and inmates and staff alike in danger.
The DOC said more than 1,000 weapons have been recovered after Molina ramped up search operations again at the start of his tenure.
“We will not tolerate any form of violence in our jails, and anyone who causes harm to others in our facilities will be held accountable,” Molina said in a statement.
“Contraband finds are the reason why I began ordering an increase in tactical and special search operations shortly after I got here. For too long, basic sound correctional practices like searches have been ignored in our jails.”
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