Another death in custody at Rikers, officials said — jail on track to outpace last year

Rikers is on track to outpace last year's deaths in custody

Another person died on Rikers Island Monday night, marking the fifth death this year of someone in – or just released – from city Department of Correction custody, officials said Tuesday.

Correction officials said staff members noticed that the male detainee was “visibly ill” around 9:15 p.m. while conducting a tour at the George R. Vierno Center, one of the facilities at the sprawling jail complex.

The staff provided aid and activated a medical emergency, officials said. Medical workers continued life saving efforts until almost 10 p.m., when they said the man was pronounced dead.

In a statement, NYC Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie said the department is “mourning the loss of someone in our care” and “will investigate every aspect of this tragedy.”

Department officials said they notified all agencies required, including the federal monitor, Board of Correction and state Attorney General’s Office. A department spokesperson initially said the man’s age and identity would be released once officials notified his next of kin.

Early Monday afternoon, the Legal Aid Society and Queens Defenders confirmed that he was 27-year-old Dashawn Jenkins, who was arrested last July for burglary, petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property. Later that month he was arrested for attempted murder and assault, court records show. He had been incarcerated since July 18, and was next scheduled to appear on May 13.

The groups referred to it as the 5th “Rikers-related” death so far this year and demanded that Rikers be put into receivership – an independent governance structure that would take authority over the jails from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.

In a statement on the death, Freedom Agenda co-founder Darren Mack criticized Mayor Eric Adams for doing “everything in his power to fill up Rikers.”

“It’s sickening and immoral,” Mack continued. “We know that no one is safe at Rikers – it’s time to stop sending people there.”

Ramel Powell, 38, and Sonia Reyes, 55, both died on Rikers Island earlier this year. Terrence Moore, 55, died in Department of Correction custody while being held for an appearance at Manhattan Criminal Court.

And 20-year-old Ariel Quidone died in a Queens hospital after becoming critically ill while at Rikers – though the department released him just before his death.

The Board of Correction reported that five people died at the troubled jail complex throughout all of 2024.

This is a developing story and has been updated with the identity of the deceased as well as more details about his prior arrests.