A 40-year-old Rikers Island detainee died Tuesday morning, marking the second death in city jail custody in less than 24 hours, THE CITY has learned.
The detainee, identified by the Department of Correction as Umais Khan, had been arrested May 5 and was awaiting trial on felony robbery and narcotics charges, according to court records.
According to the DOC, staff were alerted at 10:54 a.m. that Khan was lying in his bed and would not wake up. Correction staff performed CPR until medical personnel arrived, but he could not be revived and was pronounced dead at 11:21 a.m.
The cause of death was not immediately known.
The death came as Correction Commissioner Stanley Richards and federal jail remediation manager Nicholas Deml were in Germany touring correctional facilities there, according to a source familiar with the trip.
In a statement, Richards said he was “absolutely devastated that we have lost someone in our care and this tragedy is felt by every member of service.”
“On behalf of myself and the Department, I share my deepest condolences with his loved ones,” Richards said. “This incident will be investigated.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a social media post that his administration “remains firmly committed to the urgent and essential work of creating better conditions in our city’s jail system and closing Rikers Island as quickly as possible.”
On Monday, 41-year-old Rajpattie Ramkellawan died at the Rose M. Singer Center following what the Department of Correction described as a medical emergency.
In a statement released Monday, Ramkellawan’s attorney described her as “gentle and kind” and said she struggled throughout her life with severe behavioral health challenges stemming from trauma and adversity.
She lost a sibling in a car crash and a young child, according to the defense attorney. On Friday, she underwent a so-called 730 exam to see if she was mentally unfit to stand trial.
“She never lost her childlike innocence despite encountering unimaginable trauma and adversity,” said Katherine LeGeros Bajuk, a mental health attorney specialist with New York County Defender Services. “Her legal team is devastated by this tragedy, and our hearts go out to her loving and supportive family.”
Ramkellawan was in jail since March while she awaited trial on robbery charges, according to court records.
All told, four people have died in city jail custody so far this year, after 15 deaths in 2025, five in 2024, nine in 2023 and 19 in 2022.
Margaret Egan, the former executive director of the city’s Board of Correction, is serving as acting commissioner during Richards’ trip abroad.
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