A man was found hanged in a homeless encampment known as “The Jungle” around 10 AM on December 5th, 2023. The incident is suspected to be a suicide.
The discovery of the victim’s body was made by a railroad employee working in the area. The victim was seen hanging from a tree near their tent in an encampment next to the train tracks. It is not known how long the victim had been deceased before they were discovered.
Ithaca Police officers and Bangs Ambulance responded, and the Medical Examiner was summoned to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death.
The victim’s encampment was strewn with syringes, stripped bicycles and other debris.
As of now, the Ithaca Police Department has not released an official statement regarding the incident. There do not appear to be indications of foul play.
The encampment is within the Town of Ithaca, just outside of the City of Ithaca’s recently rebranded “Green Zone” sanctioned encampment site, the “Exception Zone.” This highlights the jurisdictional challenges that often complicate the management of homeless encampments.
“The Jungle,” an archipelago of numerous encampments, stretches across both the city and town limits, from Cass Park to Buttermilk Falls State Park. Deaths within these encampments are not uncommon.
The Ithaca Common Council recently voted to adopt a “Response Protocol to Unsanctioned Encampments on City Property” at their December meeting. The land use policy aims to manage the unsanctioned encampments detrimental effects on city-owned property and serve as an incentive to relocation to the Exception Zone.