E/CN.4/1996/35/Add.1 page 147 789. Cristino Hernandez, an immigrant from El Salvador with a history of mental illness, died after he was reportedly twice sprayed with pepper spray (oleoresin capsicum) and subsequently placed face-down by police in Worcester, Massachussetts, in July 1993. Police officers applied pressure to his body and forced his arms, which were handcuffed behind him, up over the back of his head for several minutes in an "unnatural" position while he lay face-down on the ground. An inquest judge was said to have determined that he had died from lack of oxygen as a result of this treatment. 790. Ernest Sayon, of Liberian origin, reportedly died following his arrest in April 1994 by three police officers of the New York Police Department (NYPD). Although a New York City medical examiner had found the cause of death to be "asphyxia by compression of chest and neck while [he was] rear-handcuffed and prone on the ground immediately following a struggle in which he sustained blunt impacts to his head and trunk", a grand jury declined to file charges against the officers. 791. Anthony Baez reportedly died from asphyxia in December 1994 during an altercation with six NYPD officers, after his football accidentally hit two parked patrol cars in the Bronx. The case was said to be under investigation by the Bronx District Attorney. 792. The Special Rapporteur also informed the Government of reports he had received concerning the alleged torture or ill-treatment of inmates at several prisons and jails in the country. At the Terrell Unit of the Texas state prison system, Michael McCoy was allegedly beaten and kicked to death on 7 November 1994 by two guards, who were acting in retaliation for his having spat at another guard earlier in the day. The guards were subsequently charged with his murder and their trial was said to be pending. Another prisoner at the Terrell Unit, Randy Payne, was allegedly attacked repeatedly by inmate gangs for refusing to pay protection money, while guards watched and took no action to prevent the assaults. He died on 12 August 1994 as a result of the beatings. 793. A number of inmates of the Knox County Jail, Tennessee, were reportedly left handcuffed spread-eagled to bars for periods of one hour or more with their feet barely touching the ground. Other inmates at the jail were allegedly placed in a restraining chair and forced to wear a helmet with the visor blacked out, which was then struck by prison guards using fists, flashlights and other objects. Investigations by the Knox County Sheriff’s Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were instituted in late 1994, but the results were as yet unknown. 794. Conditions at certain maximum security facilities were said to result in the inhuman and degrading treatment of the inmates in those facilities. At the H-Unit in the Oklahoma State Penitentiary at McAlester, death row inmates were reportedly confined for 23 to 24 hours per day in windowless, sealed, concrete cells, with virtually no natural light or fresh air. The only time spent outside these cells was one hour per day on weekdays, when four prisoners at a time were able to exercise in a bare concrete yard with 18-foot solid walls giving no view of the outside. There was very little direct contact between prisoners and guards and no work, recreational or vocational programmes.