A Rikers Island inmate committed suicide just 24 hours after correction officers ignored his threat to kill himself because of an imminent prison sentence.

The New York Times reported Fabian Cruz was supposed to be put on suicide watch after his threats. Instead, he was eventually found dead in his cell with a bed sheet wrapped around his neck.

Department policy requires that inmates who make threats be put on suicide watch, Gothamist reported.

A psychiatrist even recommended that the 35-year-old inmate be put on a round-the-clock suicide observation before he strangled himself.

Cruz pleaded guilty last month to first-degree sexual act after being accused of repeatedly sexually abusing an underage girl.

"This matter is currently being investigated as a possible suicide," a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections said.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the city last month saying that the conditions at Rikers Island created a "culture of violence." Between the years 2007 and 2014, there were eight suicides and over 2,000 incidents of self-harm at Rikers Island.

"Far too often inside correctional institutions, violent sentinel events occur that could have been avoided," Joseph Ponte, correction commissioner, told The New York Times of suicides.

In October, the National Institute of Justice allocated $400,000 to the city to fund an initiative addressing mental health issues and self-harm in city jails.

Mayor Bill de Blasio allocated $32 million for more guards and improved mental health services on the island, according to The New York Times. He proposed a series of changes to improve conditions at Rikers that included added surveillance cameras, more therapeutic programs for inmates and more training for correction officers.

Last February, a homeless Marine veteran with schizophrenia died when his cell became too hot, and before that an inmate with a mental illness was found dead in his cell, naked and covered in feces.

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