Officials Look Into Suspicious Death at Jail

Nassau homicide detectives and state correction officials are probing the death of a 46-year-old inmate at the in East Meadow on Saturday morning, officials said.

The inmate, identified as Roy C. Nordstrom, 46, of Shirley, complained of feeling ill and was sent to the infirmary, said Lt. Kevin Smith, a Nassau County police spokesman. He was then “checked out” and returned to his prison cell, Smith said.

He was later found by jail officials to be in cardiac arrest shortly after 8 a.m. and was taken to (NUMC), where he was pronounced dead about an hour later, officials said.

“The Homicide Squad is looking into the death,” said Lt. Smith. “It’s a matter of routine anytime a death like that occurs. But it’s likely that it was an illness.”

An initial investigation has determined that Nordstrom probably suffered a heart attack, but the exact cause of death will not be known until an autopsy is completed by the Nassau County Medical Examiner, Smith said.

Elizabeth Loconsolo, a spokeswoman for the jail, said the authorities were properly notified and procedures were followed.

“All necessary medical notifications were made by the jail after he complained of not feeling well,” Loconsolo said. “All appropriate medical procedures and protocol and appropriate testing was followed.”

The jail notified the State Commission of Correction, which oversees all jails and prisons in the state and investigates all custodial deaths, said commission spokeswoman Jessica Scaperotti, and the commission has launched an investigation. She declined to say much more.

The jail switched its health care provider from NUMC to Armor Correctional Health Services, a private company, on June 1, Loconsolo said. She did not say why the switch was made.

She said she could not go into what type of medical care was provided to Nordstrom.

Nordstrom was serving a 75-day sentence after pleading guilty to criminal contempt and assault involving a domestic incident in Patchogue on May 31, officials said. He was transferred on June 9 to the Nassau jail because the Suffolk County lockup has been experiencing overcrowding. The Nassau jail was recently given the go-ahead to lease empty jail space to Suffolk and Nordstrom was one of dozens of prisoners who had been transferred.

The Nassau County Correctional Facility has come under fire for its health care practices. The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) recently filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court, accusing the jail of refusing to release information on the medical and mental health care of inmates. The NYCLU said it spoke to 60 inmates who complained about the lack of care.

The jail has come under scrutiny since four inmates committed suicide from January 2010 to January 2011, including “one suicide that was determined to be a preventable death caused by the lack of adequate medical and mental health care,” the NYCLU said.

Nordstrom’s family did not return calls for comment.