In August 2023, Donny Ubiera died on Rikers Island while in the custody of the New York City Department of Correction. His family submitted a Freedom of Information Law request to the DOC to obtain records about Mr. Ubiera, including video surveillance around the time of his death, health reports, disciplinary history of staff, and other information about the facility. The request was denied less than a month later, and the agency failed to respond to the family’s appeal within the 10-day deadline. Now, ECBAWM is seeking the records from the DOC in state court.

In a quote to the Queens Eagle, ECBAWM associate Sonya Levitova, one of the attorneys representing Mr. Ubiera’s family, stated, “Our job here is to find out what happened. There’s a reason that we made the request for documents in the Department of Correction’s possession that are about Donny, that are about his time at Rikers. His family would like to know what happened and we don’t know yet.”

Read more about the case in the Queens Eagle here.