Under former Mayor Eric Adams, 48 people died in New York City jails or immediately upon release from Department of Correction (DOC) custody. Any death is a tragedy—but 48, which may in fact be an undercount, represents a complete failure of the city to keep incarcerated people safe.

For decades, Rikers Island has been dysfunctional and traumatizing. Since 2015, DOC has operated under a consent decree issued because of its inability to address abhorrent conditions, and the federal monitor has run into frequent issues over DOC’s refusal to cooperate. Meanwhile, the city remains woefully behind schedule to shutter all the jails on Rikers despite a looming August 2027 deadline.

Yet there are three reasons for optimism in 2026. First, in January 2026, Laura Taylor Swain, chief judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, appointed Nicholas Deml as remediation manager for the jail complex; he will report directly to the court and lead the implementation of reforms that DOC has long neglected. Second, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has committed to closing Rikers—a marked departure from former Mayor Eric Adams, who expressed doubt regarding the feasibility of transitioning off Rikers and into four borough-based jails. Third, Mayor Mamdani’s appointment of Stanley Richards, a formerly incarcerated New Yorker with deep expertise in community-based systems of support, signals a new era of leadership: one marked by the determination to end the suffering on Rikers once and for all.

Accountability is the first step to change. Below is a comprehensive list of deaths in New York City custody, dating back to 2022.

Fifteen people died on Rikers in 2025

• Kyron Randall, 33, died at Elmhurst Hospital on December 22, 2025. He experienced an allergic reaction in the George R. Vierno Center on a Sunday afternoon and was brought to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead before 1:00 a.m. the following morning.
• Aramis Furse, 32, died on Rikers Island on December 7, 2025. An officer said Furse appeared “unwell” inside his cell at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers Island around 2 a.m. on a Sunday morning. Paramedics took him to Mount Sinai Queens Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 3:15 a.m.
• Edwin Ramos, 38, died on November 21, 2025, just hours before he was meant to be released from Rikers Island. He was taken to the facility’s medical clinic and then moved to a nearby hospital after a guard found him in medical distress in the bathroom at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center around 12:05 a.m. Ramos was set to plead guilty to an attempted burglary charge at a hearing on Friday morning, after which the judge was expected to release him.
• Carlos Cruz, 43, died at the George R. Vierno Center (GRVC) at the Rikers Island jail complex on September 3, 2025. He had been waiting more than two months to be transferred to state prison. The DOC said officers responded to Cruz, who appeared to be having a seizure, at around 7:49 p.m. Doctors and emergency medical workers tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead at 8:35 p.m.
• Jimmy Avila, 44, died at the West Facility at Rikers Island on August 30, 2025, less than 24 hours after he was detained there. The DOC said staff members were summoned to his aid but were unable to revive him. The Legal Aid Society, which has been representing Avila, said in a statement that he had “struggled with serious mental health issues” which should have been flagged at intake and that “he should have been under DOC’s close watch.”
• Ardit Billa, 29, died on August 23, 2025, at the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island. The DOC said a captain and an officer found him “unresponsive in his cell” and rendered emergency medical aid, but Billa was pronounced dead shortly after. The DOC said it had suspended three staff members following Billa’s death but did not immediately respond to questions about why the staff members had been put on leave.
• Edwin Quispe, 33, died July 22, 2025, while detained on Rikers Island. A corrections officer found Quispe on a bathroom floor at the Eric M. Taylor Center and provided aid, according to the DOC. Officials said medical staff responded, but Quispe could not be revived. He had been detained since May.
• Christian Collado, 51, was receiving end-of-life care at Bellevue Hospital when he died on July 9, 2025, while in DOC custody. He had stage four bile duct cancer, and his attorney, Judah Maltz, said that he had been in poor health for months and had been transferred from the hospital to Rikers Island and back multiple times during his detention. Maltz’s efforts to secure Collado’s release because of his condition had been unsuccessful.
• James Maldonado, 56, suffered a medical episode on board a bus headed for Rikers. He died at 4:49 p.m. on June 21, 2025, after unsuccessful aid attempts. Maldonado had just been released from the hospital and was en route to Rikers for the first time, where he was to be held before a court appearance.
• Benjamin Kelly, 37, was found in medical distress by a corrections officer around 3:00 p.m. on June 21, 2025. Despite prompt attention from medical workers, he was pronounced dead by 3:31 p.m.; his cause of death remains unknown.
• Dashawn Jenkins, 27, died March 31, 2025, on Rikers Island. Correctional officers noticed that Jenkins was “visibly ill” at 9:15 p.m. After medical workers attempted to provide care until nearly 10 p.m., he was pronounced dead.
• Sonia Reyes, 50, died in an apparent suicide on March 20, 2025. Her son told the New York Daily News that Rikers “killed her.”
• Ariel Quidone, 21, collapsed on March 13, 2025, while suffering from a serious infection. He died in Elmhurst Hospital a few days later, after he had been released from DOC custody.
• Terrence Moore, 55, suffered a seizure before a scheduled court date and died in DOC custody on February 24, 2025.
• Ramel Powell, 37, died in Otis Bantum Correctional Center, part of the Rikers Island jail complex, on February 19, 2025. Powell had been held in city custody for the last 19 months of his life on a parole violation. His death is being investigated as a possible overdose.

Five people died on Rikers in 2024

• Anthony Jordan, 63, died at Mount Sinai Hospital Queens on August 20, 2024. He was rushed to the hospital during a medical emergency and was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
• Charizma Jones, 23, died in DOC custody at Elmhurst Hospital on July 14, 2024. She was hospitalized after jail staff repeatedly ignored her requests for medical help, her lawyers claim, leading to a medical episode that required an emergency response and ultimately caused her death.
• Roy Savage, 51, died of a long-term illness on March 22, 2024, at Bellevue Hospital.
• Manuel Luna, 30, was found unresponsive in his cell on January 19, 2024. The DOC said he received medical attention but was pronounced dead on the scene.
• Chima Williams, 43, collapsed on January 4, 2024, after playing basketball on New York City’s Rikers Island. After going into cardiac arrest, he was given an anti-overdose drug and CPR but could not be revived.

Nine people died on Rikers in 2023

• Manish Kunwar, 27, died of a suspected drug overdose on October 5, 2023. The officer responsible for checking his cell on Rikers Island failed to make required rounds over three predawn hours before Kunwar was found.
• Donny Ubiera, 33, was found unresponsive in a mental observation unit on Rikers Island on August 22, 2023, and later pronounced dead.
• Curtis Davis, 44, was found unresponsive in his cell on Rikers Island on July 23, 2023, and pronounced dead shortly after. After Davis’s death, the DOC suspended the CO assigned to his housing unit. The CO allegedly reported to the area and signed off on their visit but did not actually tour the unit.
• William Johnstone, 47, died on Rikers Island on July 15, 2023. He was found unresponsive in his cell that afternoon and was pronounced dead two hours later. Johnstone was held on Rikers Island because he could not afford the bail the judge set in his case.
• Ricky Howell, 60, died of cancer on July 6, 2023, while held in DOC custody in Bellevue Hospital’s jail ward. The Legal Aid Society, which represented Howell, decried the Staten Island judge and prosecutors who insisted on jailing Howell while he faced a terminal cancer diagnosis. Legal Aid previously told the court that a healthcare facility was ready to accept Howell and provide “proper care for end-of-life patients,” but New York Supreme Court Judge Lisa Grey chose instead to send Howell to jail.
• Felix Taveras, 40, died on July 4, 2023, after experiencing a medical emergency while held in DOC custody on Rikers Island. DOC has released extremely limited information about his death but said in a statement that its preliminary investigation identified “procedural violations” and that it would issue suspensions. According to one report, those violations involve staff neglect. A DOC captain is “under scrutiny” for not touring the area before Taveras’s medical emergency. DOC is also reviewing the actions of a responding CO who first waited 20 minutes to notify medical personnel and then waited a further 15 minutes to bring Taveras to the clinic.
• Joshua Valles, 31, died on May 27, 2023. DOC initially said he died from a heart attack, but an autopsy showed a fractured skull. Valles would not have been incarcerated at all prior to bail reform rollbacks in 2022, which made some nonviolent charges, like the ones he faced, bail-eligible.
• Rubu Zhao, 52, died of a fractured skull after reportedly falling from the upper floor of a Rikers Island mental health unit. He died on May 16, 2023, two days after the incident.
• Marvin Pines, 65, was found dead in the shower area of Rikers Island after having a seizure on February 4, 2023. Prior to his death, he told his attorney that he was concerned about his health in detention. Medical neglect is common on Rikers and throughout DOC facilities, with thousands of missed medical appointments every month.

Nineteen people died on Rikers in 2022

• Edgardo Mejias, 39, died on December 11, 2022, while jailed at the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island. During the two months he was incarcerated, he complained that he wasn’t getting proper medical treatment for his asthma, according to his attorney.
• Gilberto Garcia, 26, died on Rikers Island almost three years to the day that he was first sent there to await trial. He was pronounced dead at the Anna M. Kross Center at 12:50 p.m. ET on October 31, 2022.
• Erick Tavira, 28, died on Rikers Island on October 22, 2022. He had been living in a homeless shelter when he was arrested and was held on $20,000 bail. “Mr. Tavira’s case underscores the inevitable outcome when incarceration is used in lieu of treatment,” said the Legal Aid Society in a statement. “Had Mr. Tavira had access to programming, today’s tragedy could have been completely avoided.”
• Elmore Robert Pondexter, 59, suffered cardiac arrest on Rikers Island on September 18, 2022. He was granted compassionate release and died at Bellevue Hospital. Though his survivors say they are grateful he was released, they want the DOC to be held accountable for his treatment. “At first we were happy he died with dignity, and we knew he wouldn’t die a prisoner,” Aquandra Morris, one of Pondexter’s three children, told the New York Times. “But, then I thought about it—something is not right. They are trying to relinquish their responsibility.”
• Gregory Acevedo, 48, died after jumping from the Vernon Bain Center on September 20, 2022. The barge in the East River, colloquially known as “The Boat,” has been used to imprison people since 1992, despite complaints of inhumane conditions that resemble those of a slave ship. “Once again, their system failed,” said Warren Silverman, Acevedo’s attorney.
• Kevin Bryan, 35, died on Rikers Island, where he had been held on $5,003 bail. He was pronounced dead in the early morning of September 14, 2022.
• Michael Nieves, 40, was removed from life support on August 30, 2022, one week after attempting suicide. He was being held in an intensive care psychiatric housing unit due to serious mental illness. A captain and two officers were suspended after video footage revealed that they failed to respond to his injuries for at least 10 minutes.
• Ricardo Cruciani, 68, died by suicide on Rikers Island on August 15, 2022. He had been at the jail complex since July 29. His attorney and the judge presiding over his trial had requested that he be placed on suicide watch.
• Michael Lopez, 34, died on July 15, 2022, inside a mental observation unit on Rikers Island. He had been hospitalized on multiple occasions due to mental illness. The Legal Aid Society, which represented him, issued a statement following his death that said he had been caged for crimes of poverty: “Had Mr. Lopez been spared detention, he would have been connected to programming, and he would be alive today.”
• Elijah Muhammad, 31, died in custody on Rikers Island on July 10, 2022, prompting the immediate firing of a corrections officer who was involved in the incident. He had been receiving treatment for an unspecified mental illness and, in the days before he died, had spent more than 32 hours in isolation—a violation of department rules. While in isolation, he did not have a bed or access to medical care.
• Albert Drye, 52, died in DOC custody at Bellevue Prison Hospital Ward on June 21, 2022, after having been held in Eric M. Taylor Center on Rikers Island. He was sent to the hospital six days after entering the jail. “We again call on elected officials, prosecutors, the courts, and other stakeholders to facilitate the decarceration of local jails before another New Yorker has to spend their final moments confined to a cage in a facility grappling with a full-fledged humanitarian crisis,” wrote the Legal Aid Society, which represented Drye.
• Anibal Carrasquillo, 39, was pronounced dead on June 20, 2022, in the George R. Vierno Center of Rikers Island. He had complained of chest pain, but corrections officers ignored him, according to incarcerated people who spoke to the Board of Correction.
• Antonio Bradley, 28, died by suicide at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx on June 18, 2022, after sustaining his injuries in a courthouse cell. Three days before he died, he had been granted compassionate release.
• Emmanuel Sullivan, 20, was found dead in his bed in a cell on Rikers Island on May 28, 2022. He had been awaiting trial for four months and had been due to appear in court the week after he died. “Enough is enough. I am so tired and devastated to hear about the death of Emmanuel Sullivan. It is beyond heartbreaking that we continue to hear about the many fully preventable deaths that have and continue to happen on Rikers Island,” said Victor Pate, who was formerly incarcerated on Rikers Island and is now co-director of the #HALTSolitary Campaign.
• Mary Yehudah, 31, was in custody at the Rose M. Singer facility on Rikers Island when she died on May 18, 2022, of complications related to diabetes. Her family’s attorney states that she complained of heart palpitations and shortness of breath but did not receive appropriate medical treatment, and her condition could have been easily treated if the jail had done the required medical tests. She had been awaiting trial for nearly three months when she died. “We ask that you continually keep us in your prayers,” wrote her sister.
• Dashawn Carter, 25, died by suicide on May 7, 2022, after being transferred from a psychiatric hospital directly to general population housing on Rikers Island.
• Herman Diaz, 52, died on March 18, 2022, after choking on an orange. Fellow incarcerated people tried to offer aid but were unable to do the Heimlich maneuver. They called for help, but no corrections officers arrived. “I want to know how long did it take for anyone with DOC to get to my brother to help him,” said his brother, Eddie Diaz. “Why wasn’t a CO there?”
• George Pagan, 49, was held on Rikers Island because he could not pay bail of $1,006. He was clearly ill, with reports showing that he barely ate and spent his days lying in his bed or on the floor. During the six days before his death on March 17, 2022, he was not brought to nine scheduled medical appointments, nor was he given the medicine he was prescribed.
• Tarz Youngblood, 38, was a father of three. Corrections officers were not monitoring the location where he was held in the hours before he died on February 27, 2022. Four incarcerated people carried him out of the cell where he was found unconscious. They tried to administer aid, but he did not survive. Taylor Garzone, a forensic social worker with New York County Defender Services, described Youngblood as “a kind and well-intentioned man.”