SISTER OF MAN BURNED ALIVE IN PRISON CELL TO SUE NEW YORK STATE FOR $50 MILLION
A FIRE BROKE OUT IN MARCOS ALCARAZ'S CELL AND GUARDS LET HIM BURN TO DEATH, LEGAL FILING ALLEGES
Marcos Alcaraz in undated photo. Photo credit: unknown, via Beldock, Levine & Hoffman.
MALONE, NEW YORK SEPT. 28, 2026 Published: 11:27AM Last updated: 6:42PM
The family of a Bronx man burned to death in an upstate New York prison cell intends to file a $50 million lawsuit against the state.
"They way they treated my bother was like his life don't matter," the man’s sister, Francheska Alcaraz, told The Free Lance News on Monday. "They didn't pay attention when he was screaming.”
Marcos Alcaraz was alone in his cell in a maximum-security prison when a fire broke out inside of it in the middle of the night on July 18. State prison guards stood by and did nothing as flames killed the 35-year-old.
“They thought he was one of guys with mental health problems trying to get attention,” Ms. Alcaraz said. “I'm telling you this from witnesses who saw everything.”
It was from those witnesses that she first learned of her brother’s death.
Prison officials had lied to her, telling her only that he was sick and had been taken to a hospital outside the prison for treatment.
"They kinda lied to me, “ she said. “They said he was feeling sick."
After prison officials stonewalled her, Ms. Alcarez put her bother’s name on social media. That’s when relatives of people in the prison with her brother revealed not just that her brother was dead, but the gruesome way he died.
“That's when I put his name on social media,” she said, “and found out he was burned alive.”
The first post she read reported "they just let him burn to death in his cell last night and are trying to cover shit up.”
Another said "the COS at Eastern Correctional Facility let a good friend of mine burn to death last night at 1:45 AM. He was a good person who didn't deserve to die like that."
The Eastern Correctional Facility is outside Ellenville in Ulster County. Its operated by a state agency called the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
According to a “Notice of Intention” to sue the Alcaraz family filed on Monday, guards at Eastern "failed to properly extinguish the fire.” They "knew or should have known that Mr. Alcaraz was burning alive but failed to provide aid in a reasonably timely or adequate manner." Guards also "unreasonably delayed Mr. Alcaraz ’s medical care and caused his death," the filing alleges.
The notice seeks $50 million dollars in damages. Its not an actual lawsuit, but preliminary paperwork state-law requires before injured New Yorkers can file an actual lawsuit against the State for civil wrongdoing.
According to the notice, the conditions inside Eastern are a threat to everyone confined there. At Eastern, state officials fail to provide prisoners with "clothing, bedding, and cell furnishings that were not prone to catching fire." They also fail "to maintain adequate fire control devices and or fire alarms in the facility."
Guards themselves "failed to properly conduct their rounds"—which are walking patrols inside the prison. Officials also "failed to monitor or install video monitoring equipment which would alert employees and agents of the State to dangerous conditions."
David B. Rankin, one of the lawyers representing the Alcaraz family, said Eastern “must be closed immediately."
“If a dog burned to death in a shelter, it would be front page news, the manager would be indicted, and the shelter shut down,” Rankin explained. “How can we allow Eastern Correctional to house inmates when they let things like this happen?”
Rankin is a partner at Beldock Levine & Hoffman, a noted civil rights law firm. Marc A. Cannan and Keegan Stephan are part of the team representing the Alcaraz family. They held a news conference to announce the filing in Foley Square in Manhattan at noon on Monday.
Ulster County Medical Examiner Dr. Margaret M. Prial determined Alcaraz died of "smoke inhalation and thermal burns," according to a summary of the full autopsy report released by the Alcaraz’s family’s lawyers on Monday. He had third degree burns over his entire body, the summary revealed.
The medical examiner concluded he killed himself by lighting his mattress on fire and laying on it.
But Ms. Alcaraz told The Free Lance News on Monday she questioned that determination.
First of all, she revealed, the State Police have not concluded their investigation. Second of all, no one was closer to her brother than she was because they lost their mother when they were children and talked regularly. And no one from the medical examiner’s office talked to her before they decided Marcos killed himself.
“We’re only siblings,” she said. “If he's going do something like suicide, he's gonna let me know.”
Instead, she said, “He had plans for his future.”
When he was paroled, she explained, “He was going to stay with me.”
The family, Ms. Alcaraz demanded, wants "a complete and independent investigation into the response of the correction officers, the fire-safety equipment, and why Marcos was not rescued."
New York's prison system is facing multiple crises in every measurable metric.
A total of 115 prisoners have died in state custody since January 1, according to the latest monthly report published by the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
39 of those are listed as having died of natural causes while a whopping 55 are listed with a presently unknown cause of death. Five died by suicide, allegedly.
"2026 has seen the most in-custody deaths of any year since at least 2020, including during the COVID-19 pandemic," prison watch-dog group Correctional Association of New York reported in May.
A spokesman for the state prison system said “We have no comment due to the ongoing New York State Attorney General investigation.”
THIS WAS A BREAKING NEWS REPORT. IT WAS UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE DAY.
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