Another detainee death at Rikers marks second in less than a week

A 49-year-old man from Jamaica, Queens died after suffering a medical issue on Rikers Island over the weekend. AP file photo by Ted Shaffrey

By Jacob Kaye

A 49-year-old man from Queens awaiting trial on Rikers Island died on Sunday, becoming the second detainee in the troubled jail complex to die in the last week.

John Price, who had been held on Rikers since December 2024 on a slew of drug charges, “required medical attention” and was taken from the Eric M. Taylor Center on Rikers to Elmhurst Hospital on Saturday, March 28, according to the Department of Correction.

He died on Sunday, around 12 hours after arriving at the Queens hospital.

The DOC did not provide any further information about Price’s condition.

Price, who was accused of running a drug trafficking ring in Jamaica, became the second person being held in the city’s jails to die in less than a week.

Barry Cozart, 39, died in the George R. Vierno Center on Wednesday, March 25, after allegedly experiencing an unspecified medical issue.

The succession of deaths marks the first crisis in the jails under new city leadership.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has vowed to reform the jails and shutter Rikers Island as quickly as possible. To carry out the reforms, Mamdani tapped Stanley Richards to lead the DOC.

Richards, the first formerly incarcerated person to lead the agency, said in a statement that Price’s death “weighs heavily on all of us.”

“The Department mourns the loss of an individual who passed away in our care,” the commissioner said. “The safety, support, and well-being of every person entrusted to us are of the highest importance.”

In a statement on social media, Mamdani said that he was “saddened to learn that a New Yorker in city custody died early this morning.”

“My thoughts are with his family and loved ones as they endure this profound loss,” he added. “Every person in our city’s care deserves dignity, safety, and access to quality medical treatment — without exception.”

The detainee deaths come at a time of extreme uncertainty for Rikers Island, where over 100 people have died in the past decade.

In addition to new leadership at City Hall, Nicholas Deml, a former CIA agent and correction commission in Vermont, is beginning to assume his role as the court-appointed “remediation manager.” In the role, Deml will assume major control over the day-to-day management of Rikers and the DOC, where he’ll supplant the powers of both the commissioner and mayor.

Deml was appointed to the position by federal Judge Laura Swain, who ruled in November 2024 that the city was in contempt of 18 provisions of a decade-old court order in the detainee rights case known as Nunez v. the City of New York. Deml’s first official day on the job was Monday.

The deaths also come as the city attempts to kick its plan to shut Rikers Island into gear ahead of the legally mandated August 2027 deadline.

Though city officials have admitted the deadline is no longer possible to meet, Mamdani has recommitted the city to closing the jail complex and replacing it with four borough-based jails after his predecessor, Mayor Eric Adams, largely ignored the plan to close Rikers during his four years in office.

Following Cozart’s death last week, Mamdani said “too many have died on Rikers Island for far too long.”

“Rikers must close, and we will pursue every avenue to do so as quickly as possible,” he added.

But advocates over the weekend said that while they support Mamdani’s rhetoric, they believe it's not backed up by his preliminary budget proposal, which was released in January.

Melanie Dominguez, the organizing director of the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice, said that while the proposal increases DOC’s budget by 5 percent, it doesn’t increase alternatives-to-incarceration programs or other initiatives meant to lower the jail’s population and prevent people from committing crimes.

“In response to this recent death, Mayor Mamdani stated that all incarcerated people deserve dignity and safety, yet his budget proposal doesn’t reflect this commitment,” Dominguez said. “The mayor's words must be followed by actions, otherwise the death toll will continue to rise just as it did under the previous administration.”