Detainee Dies in His Cell on Rikers Island, Marking Seventh Death There This Year

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By Graham Rayman, John Annese
New York Daily News

(TNS) A stabbing suspect locked up on Rikers Island died in his cell early Sunday morning — marking the seventh death at the notorious jail complex this year and the 26th in New York City jails since Mayor Eric Adams took office. headlines

A correction officer patrolling housing unit 5A at the George R. Vierno Center on Rikers Island found Curtis Davis, 44, lifeless on the floor of his cell about 5:10 a.m. and reported a medical emergency, according to Correction Department records.

Jail staff started chest compressions on Davis about 5 minutes later and EMS medics showed up at about 5:45 a.m. to try to revive him with a Lucas device, which performs automatic chest compressions. At 5:51 a.m., a doctor pronounced him dead, records show.

Davis was arrested on June 1 for allegedly stabbing a 29-year-old man in the eye across the street from Davis’ Kensington home. Davis and the victim knew each other, cops said. The victim, who went to Methodist Hospital, survived the attack.

Davis was being held on $30,000 bond when he died.

His death comes just over a week after another George R. Vierno Center detainee, William Johnstone, 47, died in custody. Jail staff tried to revive Johnstone with three doses of the anti-overdose medicine Narcan, CPR, and two doses from an EpiPen, which is used to counter allergic reactions.

Nineteen city jail detainees died in 2022, and 16 died in 2021.

Last week, Manhattan U.S. attorney Damian Williams said he would ask a judge to place Rikers Island in federal receivership. The move comes after a federal monitor’s report found the Department of Correction had failed to make “substantial and demonstrable progress” in implementing reforms negotiated in the city’s year-old “action plan” to fix the jails. Williams also plans to file for contempt.

If a receiver is installed, it will have the power to take control of the entire department — or one or more element of operations. Currently, a federal monitor appointed as part of a 2015 court settlement between the feds and the city has only been able to make recommendations.

Adams, who opposes federal receivership, defended his record last week, saying that his administration has brought “real cultural changes” to the jail complex and that the city has “started to turn the corner in the Department of Correction.”