The Rikers Island inmate who tried and failed to escape Thursday tried to escape again on Sunday, because measures taken to combat the COVID-19 pandemic have made Rikers intolerable, one of his fellow inmates says.

Arthur L. Brown "climbed a fence during recreation and was promptly apprehended on a roof," a Rikers Island official told Gothamist. "This detainee is the same individual who attempted to escape last Thursday."

That's when Brown climbed over a perimeter security fence topped with razor-wire and made it into the murky, swift and sometimes treacherous water surrounding Rikers Island.

“Around 12:30 p.m. on Thursday a Rikers Island detainee climbed a recreation yard fence and ran to the shoreline," the official said. Correction Officers caught him in the water but “not fully submerged,” the Bronx District Attorney’s Office told the New York Post.

Brown has been imprisoned since May 13th. He faces felony assault, felony bail jumping and misdemeanor assault charges, jail records show.

The fact that the same detainee managed to escape from a secured area of a jail twice in four days rattled Rikers' officials. "The incident is under investigation and there will be immediate staff suspensions if warranted," Peter Thorne, DOC's Deputy Commissioner of Public Information, told Gothamist on Sunday.

Elias Husamudeen, President of the New York City Correction Officers benevolent association, did not answer his mobile telephone and did not respond to multiple text messages seeking comment.

One of Brown's fellow inmates on Rikers Island told Gothamist that Brown tried twice to escape is because he does not have a lawyer and conditions on the notorious island penal colony are worse than ever.

"We do not get contact visits. They stopped giving us certain cosmetics. They changed procedures. Mail is backed up forever. Guys are getting mail two months later. No packages. No barber shop. The food has been different. We keep getting the same food over and over. We are not getting variety anymore," Dominique Peters told Gothamist via telephone on Sunday, hours after Brown's second escape attempt was thwarted.

The 28-year-old from the Bronx says he has known Brown, a 37-year-old Brooklynite, "for a few months." They met before the pandemic in a Rikers Island law library, where they were doing legal research. Peters has been incarcerated since 2019. He faces felony burglary and multiple misdemeanor charges, court and jail records show.

The Legal Aid Society said they represented Brown “on a number of cases but was relieved." Court records did not indicate a current lawyer for Brown.

Their lack of legal representation made them "comrades," Peters said. "We have a common interest to get the fuck up out here as soon as possible. We used to talk about different points of law and different concepts."

Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck. "After Corona hit, they closed the law library," Peters said. "The law library being closed" was a big source of "frustration."

Rikers Island inmates have also not been allowed in-person visits with their lawyers since late March because of the pandemic, Ann H. Mathews, the Bronx Defenders' Managing Director of Criminal Defense Practice, told Gothamist. While they have been allowed video conferences via a digital Skype-like interface, those sometimes take weeks to schedule. Besides, she emphasized, "Nothing replaces an in-person visit. When it comes to attorney client relationship building there is no substitute for meeting and talking in-person."

Mathews added: "None of the video facilities are great and some are abysmal. Sometimes you can barely hear what is being said."

A spokesperson for the Department of Correction did not return a request for comment on conditions at Rikers.

Peters said both he and Brown are incarcerated in the same Rikers jail, the George R. Vierno Center, but housed in different units. The units, Peters said, are connected by a "pantry," through which meals are served to inmates. Peters said that although the law library was closed, he was able to stay in touch with Brown through the pantry.

"Every day we sat there like an hour talking," Peters said. If Brown had extra food or commissary, "if he had something extra, he sent it to me. He was a good dude to me."

The use of force by Rikers guards has also increased, Peters said. "The use of force has gone up a lot. They spray a lot quicker now," he explained, referring to use of pepper spray. A report released in May by the federal monitor overseeing the City's jails confirms that City Correction Officers' use of force "remains at an all-time high."

Peters said Brown did not confide in him about his plan to escape on Thursday.

"We spoke that morning at breakfast. He gave me some hot chocolates and oatmeals," Peter said. "Next thing I know I see helicopters circling low and the police boats pulling up. Then we are locked down."

Other inmates who were in the yard with Brown when he escaped on Thursday told Peters "they were talking to him in the yard. He walked off and went around the yard a couple of times. Then he disappeared. Next thing you know they looked up and he was on the roof," Peters said.

How he got up there is "the $1,000 question. I went out there yesterday looking around. I can only surmise how he did it. I think he kicked off one wall. He shimmied. Like Batman, he jumped off one wall and pulled himself up."

Brown did it again on Sunday, officials said. This time, Peters said, a fellow inmate who was listening to 1010 WINS radio heard the news and called him over to listen to the broadcast: "Yo it's your boy again!"

Peters said the news made him smile.

"They are not trying to give him justice any other way so he tried to take it for himself, to pursue his liberty," Peters said. "The justice system is going by his own set of rules, that leaves us no other choice."