A Big Apple jail captain was attacked by a Rikers Island inmate and smothered in feces, law enforcement sources told The Post.
Captain Nauvella Lacroix was working the night shift on Wednesday around 9:45 p.m. when inmate Arthur Brown started hurling the brown muck at him from inside his cell, hitting the captain in the face and the torso area, internal records show.
Lacroix, who’s been with the city Department of Corrections for almost nine years, had been conducting a tour of the cells when the attack occurred, the records state.
An image of Lacroix following the defilement shows his crisp white uniform shirt almost completely covered in feces. The extent of his injuries weren’t immediately clear, but he did turn the uniform shirt over for testing, records show.
“The job is really going to s–t,” a DOC source fumed about the incident.
“This shows the continuing lack of respect the officers get, day in day and day out, from the inmates and the higher ups don’t back them.”
Patrick Ferraiuolo, the president of the Correction Captains’ Association, told The Post late Sunday Brown has attacked DOC staff with feces “at least a half dozen times.”
“This should’ve never happened because this is not the first time that this inmate has doused an employee with feces,” Ferraiuolo said by phone.
“I’ve been personally told that he has exhausted his time in punitive segregation [solitary confinement] so they can’t move him. That’s unacceptable. When an inmate behaves that way and throws feces at uniformed staff, he needs to be isolated, he needs to be put in punitive segregation, there should be no exhausting of time when it comes to an inmate this violent and this dangerous but yet they continue to coddle the inmate.”
Ferraiuolo said at least three captains, including Lacroix, have been personally attacked with feces by Brown and the staff his union represents need more support.
“No one has supported [Lacroix], we literally had to fight with the warden to get him a couple of days off so he could go and just regroup and you know recover from this tragedy,” the president said.
“My guy is devastated,” he continued, referring to Lacroix.
The DOC has been grappling with a staggering surge of resignations from correctional staff, many of whom jumped shift to the NYPD amid “inhumane treatment,” dangerously long hours and unsafe working conditions, the president of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association told John Catsimatidis on his radio show Sunday.
“We’re having the roughest time in my 22-year career ever. Officers are working triple shifts, which includes … in some cases 30 hours straight. It’s a really unsafe situation for us… My corrections officers are suffering,” COBA president Benny Boscio, who doesn’t represent Lacroix, said on The Cats Roundtable.
“We filed a lawsuit against the Department of Corrections and the Department of Labor. We’re trying to force the Department of Labor to provide a safe and healthy working environment for the DOC… It’s terrible for us… They are not providing time for female officers [who are recent mothers] to be able to go to a separate location to pump their breast milk for their babies… It’s deplorable for them to be treating us this way.”
Boscio called the recent exodus “a tragedy” and said the DOC hasn’t been able to hire a new corrections officer in nearly three years.
“The deplorable conditions have forced corrections officers to leave their job… Over 1000 resignations since January 2019. We’re dealing with broken cell doors. They are housing inmates by gang affiliation.… It’s truly a shame.”
Boscio said the DOC “answered the call during COVID” and the union shouldn’t have to sue to get better conditions.
“We came to work every day. We are essential workers. We are first responders and this is how we’re being treated by the city… It’s truly a shame!” Boscio said.
“When the new mayor takes office, and they talk about cleaning up the City of New York, well, guess where everybody is going to be sent? Rikers Island. And we need two thousand corrections officers to help us be able to [handle] that population.… The city has gone to shame!”
Brown, who is in his late 30s, has been locked up since May 2019 on felony assault and bail jumping charges.
The DOC didn’t comment on the incident, telling The Post only they were “looking into” it.