Inside a cell on row 14 at Eastern Correctional Facility this summer, Marcos Alcaraz called out for help, his cries echoing through the south hall block of the upstate New York prison, according to five inmates who were housed nearby.
“I’m on fire!” he shouted again and again as flames rose around him, they told The New York Times. They joined him in calling for aid, they said, but the guards were slow to respond.
Then, they said, Mr. Alcaraz fell silent. He was pronounced dead at a hospital on July 18, and the death was subsequently ruled a suicide — a determination that Mr. Alcaraz’s family has fiercely disputed.
On Monday, a lawyer for the family filed a notice of intent to sue the state for negligence in his death, among other things.
“My brother was incarcerated, but he was still a human being. He was a father, a son, a brother, and a man who was loved and had plans for his future,” Mr. Alcaraz’s sister, Francheska Alcaraz, said in a statement announcing the filing.
Even for a prison system that has reeled from staffing problems, the fire stood out for the questions it raised about how such an incident could occur.
Two months later, the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision and the other agencies reviewing the fire have yet to answer questions about what caused it, citing open investigations.
They also would not say whether any missteps were made in the response by the guards, who appeared to struggle to reach Mr. Alcaraz, 35, and extinguish the blaze, according to the inmates who witnessed the fire.
On Sept. 9, the Ulster County Medical Examiner’s Office issued its determination that Mr. Alcaraz had killed himself.
“Lit mattress on fire and laid on mattress,” read the autopsy report, which noted that Mr. Alcaraz had third-degree burns over nearly 100 percent of his body.
The report did not say what led the pathologist to that conclusion.
In an interview, Ms. Alcaraz said she learned about the fire on social media and added that the family was initially told that her brother had died of natural causes.
“You can’t tell me it is suicide without the full investigation,” Ms. Alcaraz said. “What caused the fire? I want answers.”
David B. Rankin, the family’s lawyer, called the circumstances surrounding Mr. Alcaraz’s death “unconscionable.”
“How can we allow Eastern Correctional to house inmates when they let things like this happen?” Mr. Rankin said. “Eastern Correctional must be closed immediately.”
On the night the fire broke out, the guards on duty ignored the prisoners’ first calls for help, according to the five prisoners who were housed near Mr. Alcaraz. A spokesman for the union that represents the guards said he could not comment on the matter because it was the subject of pending litigation.
Dario Wynerman, 35, said he woke shortly after 1 a.m. to men shouting: “Fire! Fire!”
As the men cried out, the guards shouted back, “Stop calling us!” recalled another inmate, Terrell Bethea, 42.
A third prisoner, Frank Kwaw, 35, said he could see bright orange flames and smoke billowing up from the tier below. The floor beneath him was burning hot, he said. He, too, started shouting until smoke filled his lungs and he could no longer speak, he said.
“I never felt this close to death in my life,” Mr. Kwaw said. “I thought this was the end.”
A fourth inmate, Theodore Johnson, 42, said that when the officers finally responded, they struggled to gain access to Mr. Alcaraz’s cell because they had not released a circuit breaker for the row. Mr. Johnson heard a guard shout at another officer to “hit the breaker.”
The guards first tried using a fire extinguisher, but the fire was out of control, Mr. Johnson said.
A fifth inmate, Edmund Pinnacle, 49, said the officers then tried to use a hose, but initially struggled to operate it. He added that as they fumbled with it, he could smell burning flesh.
Afterward, a sergeant was placed on administrative leave for actions taken after the incident, but not for the sergeant’s “response to the fire,” said Thomas Mailey, the corrections department spokesman. Four other officers were placed on administrative leave for reasons that were not “directly associated with the fire,” he said.
He declined to comment further, saying the incident was under investigation. The New York State attorney general’s office and the state police were also investigating the fire, which was first reported by The Times Union.
The inmates interviewed by The New York Times said they did not hear a fire alarm on the night of the incident.
“The entire cell was peeling, and you can see just black concrete,” Mr. Johnson said. “I don’t understand how a man can burn to death in his cell and the officers don’t get there in time to put it out.”
Afterward, Mr. Johnson spoke with reporters and wrote to prison officials, urging them to move the remaining inmates to another housing area. Many of them had been complaining of breathing problems and chest pain, he said.
Mr. Bethea said he had begun coughing, sometimes with blood, but has not received adequate medical attention.
Mr. Johnson, who participated in a hunger strike for several days, said he watched another man blow black soot from his nose.
Six days after the fire, Mr. Johnson said, he was accused of misbehavior and sent to solitary confinement. He said the charges were false and that his punishment was retaliation for speaking out.
Mr. Mailey, the corrections department spokesman, disputed that guards had retaliated against Mr. Johnson, saying a review of body-worn camera footage showed that the inmate had harassed staff members and disobeyed their orders.
Mr. Alcaraz had been sentenced to up to 24 years in prison after a 2014 manslaughter conviction. His earliest release date was 2031, and his family said he had been looking forward to it.
“I just want my brother to rest in peace,” said Ms. Alcaraz, 39. “It’s so heartbreaking. I just want to know why — why you don’t help?”
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