Detainee dies on Rikers Island as new leadership takes over troubled jails

A 39-year-old man became the first person to die on Rikers Island in 2026 when he was found experiencing a medical emergency on Wednesday, March 25. AP file photo by Seth Wenig

By Jacob Kaye

A 39-year-old man died on Rikers Island on Thursday, marking the first death in the dangerous jail complex this year and the first since Mayor Zohran Mamdani took office.

Barry Cozart was experiencing an unspecified medical issue when he was found by an officer in Rikers’ George R. Vierno Center on Wednesday, March 25, according to the city’s Department of Correction.

Staffers performed CPR on the detainee but he could not be revived, according to the DOC. Cozart was pronounced dead at 11:33 a.m.

Cozart had been held pretrial on $30,000 cash bail or a $90,000 bond after being charged in a Jamaica Estates burglary case. He had been held on Rikers since November and last appeared in Queens Criminal Court a day before his death.

Cozart’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

Cozart is the first person to die in DOC custody since Mamdani and his DOC commissioner, Stanley Richards, inherited the troubled agency and vowed to reform it.

Nearly 50 people died behind bars in New York City over the past four years under former Mayor Eric Adams, who often drew criticism for his management of the jail system.

Richards, the first formerly incarcerated person to lead the agency, said in a statement that Cozart’s death “weighs heavily on me and on every member of this Department.”

“As commissioner, and as a Department, we place the safety and support of those in our care at the center of everything we do,” Richards said in a statement. “I extend my deepest condolences to [Cozart’s] loved ones. Our sorrow over his loss is immeasurable.”

Mamdani said he was “deeply troubled” by the death and vowed a transparent investigation into Cozart’s passing. He also reiterated his pledge to close Rikers Island, a plan that saw consistent delays under his predecessor.

“While we do not yet know the cause of death, too many have died on Rikers Island for far too long,” Mamdani said in a statement posted to social media. “Rikers must close, and we will pursue every avenue to do so as quickly as possible.”

The detainee’s death is also the first since a judge appointed a receiver to take control of major aspects of the day-to-day management of the city’s jails.

Earlier this year, Federal Judge Laura Swain appointed Nicholas Deml, a former CIA agent and correction commissioner in Vermont, to serve as her remediation manager, granting him extraordinary powers over Rikers and the DOC.

Swain, who appointed Deml after finding the city had failed to meet 18 provisions of a longstanding court order regarding the treatment of detainees, charged the remediation manager with fixing Rikers’ endemic violence and chaos.

Deml will officially begin his work on March 30 and is expected to serve as remediation manager for at least the next seven years, according to Swain. He’s expected to cost the city nearly $10 million for his first full year of work, the Eagle reported earlier this month.

While Deml, who answers only to Swain, will supplant the powers of the DOC commissioner, Richards has repeatedly said he plans to work in partnership with the remediation manager.

“I really look forward to working with him,” Richards said at a City Council hearing on Tuesday. “Him and I talked about our work together as a partnership. He reports to Judge Swain, and I report to the mayor, but our north star and our goal is the same – we want safe jails.”