Jiniye Hooks
GOSHEN – A 21-year-old former New York City man who is serving a 20-year-to-life prison sentence for a 2024 murder in Manhattan, has had just under another 10 years tacked onto his sentence for assault charges stemming from his incarceration in Orange County.
Jiniye Hooks pled guilty in Orange County Court on October 7 to assault, attempted assault, promoting prison contraband and criminal possession of a weapon while he was incarcerated in the Goshen Secure Center in 2025.
It was alleged that Hooks was found in possession of a medical scalpel on January 2, 2025, and on April 19 of that year, he used a ceramic blade he had hidden in a pen cap to attempt to slash another inmate in the neck and face.
When he pled guilty, he admitted to attempting to injury the victim and to injuring an employee at the facility during the same incident.
Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler termed Hooks’ actions a “demonstrated pattern of unthinkable violence” that he said continues “to remove him from the rest of society.”