One detainee was found dead with 66 pills in his cell.
Another lay in distress for five minutes during an apparent overdose before staff administered Narcan.
A third was left locked in his cell, unsupervised, for nearly half an hour as he spiraled into a medical crisis.
Those were some of the damning findings outlined in the latest report issued by the city’s Board of Correction on Friday.
The oversight board’s 25-page report highlights a familiar pattern: Rikers Island correction officers off post, missed safety checks, unsecured cells and a housing unit where rules appeared optional. The report also details how Correctional Health staff failed to properly care for detainees.
“This report shows that Rikers jail supervisors still cannot get staff to do the fundamentals of the job, namely to stay on post during a workshift and vigilantly supervise people in their custody,” said Mary Lynne Werlwas of the Legal Aid Society. “The jails have tolerated this lax approach to basic corrections for too long, and too many people have died from it.”
The same failures have been flagged in report after report, year after year, as the detainee population at Rikers includes a significant and growing minority with serious mental health needs.
The latest board report documented three deaths on Rikers: Edwin Ramos, 38, on Nov. 21; Aramis Furse, 32, on Dec. 7; and Kyron Randall, 33, on Dec. 22.
Death by Infection
Kyron Randall’s death reads less like an isolated, poorly handled medical emergency and more like a slow-motion systems failure inside Rikers.
He died from septic shock after medical staff failed to properly diagnose and treat him, the report found.
Randall’s record revealed a long history of serious mental illness and substance use, the Board of Corrections report shows, and he cycled through suicide watch and Bellevue Hospital, as well as to a state mental health facility.
He was returned to Rikers after medical staff there determined that, with the help of medication, he was ready to stand trial for allegedly murdering his 56-year-old neighbor.
In mid-December, Randall missed multiple doses of medication over several days for a mix of reasons that are routine in the jail system. They include court appearances, refusing to take his pills and what officials described as “no response.”
Medical staff made repeated attempts to evaluate him for complaints of stomach pain, but he refused to leave his cell.
The morning of the medical emergency, one officer in charge of his housing unit left the area unsupervised for nearly three hours, from 5:58 a.m. until 8:42 a.m. (A probe by the Corrections Department’s internal review team concluded the officer did not violate any rules, according to the death review.)
When correction officers finally noticed Randall was in trouble later that morning at 10:11 a.m., he was lying incoherent in his cell in vomit with his pants pulled down.
For the next 11 minutes, jail staff stood at the front of the housing area while he lay inside his cell alone.
When emergency response staff did arrive, a staffer briefly entered Randall’s cell twice for a few seconds before going back to watch him from outside the door, according to surveillance video.
Randall then fell out of his bed.
It wasn’t until 10:56 am — 45 minutes after the emergency was called — that staff finally entered his cell for good, rolling the 350-pound man onto a blanket with help from three fellow inmates and carrying him to a gurney.
Randall didn’t reach Elmhurst Hospital until just after noon. He was dead before 1 a.m. the next morning.
The Board of Correction recommended Correctional Health Services retrain staff to ensure continuous monitoring of detainees in medical distress, which the health service accepted.
Narcan Delay
Another death detailed in the report points to similarly routine breakdowns.
Edwin Ramos, 38, entered custody in August 2025 and was initially flagged for high blood pressure and obesity. He said he had used fentanyl and cocaine but, for reasons not made clear in the report, was not deemed eligible for medication-assisted drug treatment, according to the board review.
Two months later, jail officials obtained records from the state that showed a more serious medical history that included “unspecified psychotic disorders.”
Still, Ramos was placed in a general population dorm at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers instead of a medically monitored unit. Surveillance footage from the night of Nov. 20 shows multiple people openly smoking what looked like rolled cigarettes while an officer sat at the post or briefly left the area.
Just before midnight, Ramos was seen placing an unknown substance in his mouth. Minutes later, he staggered into the bathroom, appearing lethargic, before collapsing face-first onto the floor.
After a five minute delay, a correction officer administered multiple doses of Narcan and began chest compressions. Medical staff arrived shortly after and continued resuscitation efforts, eventually transporting Ramos to the jail clinic and then to Mount Sinai Queens, where he was pronounced dead.
Contraband
In the case of Furse, the breakdown played out over hours inside a locked housing unit.
Surveillance video reviewed by the Board shows detainees freely leaving their cells during a lockdown, passing around what appeared to be contraband and even entering one another’s cells while officers conducted cursory tours or left the post entirely. Detainees were supposed to be locked in their own cells at the time.
Later, while the officer was off the unit, someone appeared to slide a cigarette-like item under Furse’s cell door. Other detainees repeatedly stopped by to check on him, flicking the lights on and off and trying to get his attention.
According to the report, people in custody ultimately alerted staff after hearing Furse make “weird noises” in the early morning hours of Dec. 7.
By the time officers responded at 2 a.m., he was unresponsive.
“Responders found Mr. Furse in bed, water and vomit on the bed, the floor, and his mouth,” the board report said. “He showed no signs of breathing, had no pulse, his pupils were fixed and dilated, and he was not responding to any stimuli.”
A correction officer administered Narcan five minutes later, before medical staff arrived, but he had no pulse. He was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Queens.
DOC later sent a Special Search Team and K-9 unit to search the housing area. They found 66 pills inside of a cup located on the desk in Furse’s cell.
Furse’s death was the only case in the report that resulted in discipline for staff.
According to the Board, the so-called “B” post officer assigned to his housing area was suspended for 30 days for a string of failures that included neglecting to check for signs of life, leaving the post, and failing to patrol the unit as required.
Investigators also found the officer made false logbook entries and engaged in conduct that brought discredit to the department.
No other staff were disciplined in connection with the three deaths outlined in Friday’s report.
The report recommended the Correction Department retrain staff in several basic tasks, “including but not limited to, correction officers’ responsibility to remain on post and remain vigilant.” A department spokesman said, “We will review the recommendations.”
The Correctional Health Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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