Rikers Island sees another inmate die in custody amid calls for federal takeover – and return of ICE

Another individual incarcerated on Rikers Island has died, the Correction Department (DOC) announced early Wednesday morning.

The unidentified inmate was found at an unspecified facility on the island during the early hours of Feb. 19, according to a terse statement from the DOC.

The agency indicated the person was pronounced dead at the scene; no preliminary details about the cause of death were provided. The individual’s identity has been withheld pending family notification. amNewYork Metro reached out to the DOC for further information about the fatality and is awaiting a response.

Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie said in a statement that her department is “conducting a full investigation into this tragic event.”

Additionally, the DOC said it has notified the federal monitor overseeing Rikers Island, the Board of Correction, the state Attorney General’s Office, the state Commission of Correction, and the city Department of Investigation about the fatality – which is now part of the standard procedure for in-custody deaths.

The Feb. 19, 2025 inmate death on Rikers Island marked the 34th of its kind during the Adams administration, according to the Katal Center for Equity, Health and Justice. More than 100 people have died while in custody on Rikers since 2014, which was the start of the de Blasio Administration’s first of two terms.File photo by Dean Moses

Wednesday’s inmate death marked the 34th of its kind during the Adams administration, according to the Katal Center for Equity, Health and Justice. More than 100 people have died while in custody on Rikers since 2014, which was the start of the de Blasio Administration’s first of two terms.

A city law passed in 2019 mandates the closure of Rikers Island by 2027, though it is unclear whether that mandate will be reached. The city has yet to complete the four community-based jails across the city that would replace Rikers, with those plans receiving boisterous community opposition.

Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain previously held the city in contempt for ongoing violence and dilapidated conditions on Rikers Island, and for violating the consent decree in the 2025 Nunez vs. City of New York case for improving conditions. She is now considering putting Rikers into federal receivership, which would allow the Justice Department to directly oversee the facility’s operations.

However, before that decision is reached, federal agents are returning to the island in a different capacity. Last week, Mayor Eric Adams announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would reopen its facility on Rikers Island, which the city had shuttered a decade ago. The office, according to Adams, will enable ICE to root out undocumented “criminals” and members of “violent gangs” currently incarcerated on Rikers.

In light of Wednesday’s inmate death and other developments surrounding the mayor over the past week, criminal justice advocates with the Katal Center condemned Adams over Wednesday’s death. They called for his resignation or removal from office.

“The shameless moves by Mayor Adams over the last week illuminate what we’ve known for years– he does not give a crap about Black, brown, immigrant, and low-income New Yorkers,” said Melanie Dominguez, organizing director for the Katal Center. “Instead of working to save lives and close Rikers, Adams has abandoned the plan to shut Rikers and wants to let ICE target and further criminalize immigrants. Gov. [Kathy] Hochul must remove Adams from office now.

Read More: https://www.amny.com/police-fire/rikers-island/