Ongoing Detainee Deaths Push Rikers Island into Federal Court Receivership
When 27-year-old Dashawn Jenkins died in New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex on April 1, 2025, it was the fifth detainee death of the year and at least the 38th since Mayor Eric Adams (D) took office in January 2022. The persistently rising death toll was a major reason that the federal court for the Southern District of New York cited in deciding to appoint a “remediation manager” to take over control and operation of the troubled lockup.
The actual number of deaths may be higher; a July 2023 report by City & State counted at least 120 deaths among those incarcerated at the jail between 2014 and 2022, though the City Department of Correction (DOC) reported just 68 during the same period.
Two more detainee deaths in 2024 were blamed on staff failures to follow policy, according to a report released on December 30, 2024, by the City’s Board of Corrections (BOC), which provides oversight to DOC.
One of those who died, Charizma Jones, 23, was admitted to the lockup in September 2023 and rapidly exhibited a “radical and unusual change in her behavior, which included hallucinating,” the report recalled. From September 16, 2023, through April 16, 2024, she was assigned “various housing designations” including protective custody, general population housing, mental observation housing, and Program for Accelerating Clinical Effectiveness (PACE) housing. There she “managed to incur seven disciplinary infractions” including an assault on a guard.
On April 28, 2024, Jones called 311 from her housing area to report that “she could not eat, experienced throat swelling, and had hives and welts all over her body,” the report continued. She was admitted to medical isolation, where staff noted a skin rash. She was also given Tylenol and a Benadryl shot before she was discharged on May 3, 2024, with prescriptions for prednisone, other antibiotics, and Tylenol.
The next day, however, she requested to be transferred to a hospital because her “skin [wa]s turning orange and getting dark and peeling,” and jail medical staff was unable to perform an EKG because of that. After attempting to get medical attention, she collapsed in her cell. But staff was “unavailable” to transport her to the clinic until several other detainees “caused a disturbance” which necessitated staff response.
Once transported to the clinic, guards placed her in “medlock” and refused to allow clinic staff to assess her vitals. Between 11:50 p.m. on May 4 and 7:19 a.m. on May 6, 2024, guards refused to allow clinic staff into Jones’ cell six times. When clinic staff finally gained access, they found that she was exhibiting “a sore throat, high fever, rash, chills, and elevated liver function tests of 1,000 (a sign of inflamed or damaged cells in the liver).” EMS was summoned, and she was transported to Elmhurst Hospital Center. Two hospitals later, Jones was placed in a ventilator on July 4, 2024. She died of “multi-organ failure” 10 days later.
The death of fellow detainee Anthony Jordan, 63, was no less disturbing. He contacted the jail clinic at 8:31 a.m. on August 19, 2024, complaining of “severe left arm pain from his left shoulder down to his left arm.” Seven hours later, when he collapsed, he was taken to the clinic, where medical staff recorded examining Jordan “after receiving the complaint,” adding that he was “prescribed medication to alleviate the pain.”
But at 3:26 a.m. on August 20, 2024, he “sat on the edge of his bed, rocking back and forth, appearing to be in pain,” the report continued. When he fell out of bed about 30 minutes later, he was taken to the clinic in a wheelchair, given supplemental oxygen, and placed under cardiac and blood glucose monitoring while awaiting EMS. When obtained for transport at 5:30 a.m., Jordan was reportedly in stable condition. But he went into cardiac arrest while in transport, and he was pronounced dead at 6:19 a.m. upon arrival at Mount Sinai Queen’s Hospital.
The BOC noted several failures in both cases, including DOC staff refusing to allow clinic staff to assess Jones while she was “on medlock.” On top of that, the camera in her cell was not functional, and guards failed to properly check in Jordan’s housing unit every 30 minutes, as required by policy. See: Second Report and Recommendations on 2024 Deaths in New York City Department of Correction Custody, NYC BOC (Dec. 2024).
The failures are symptoms of much larger problems that sparked a federal lawsuit, which produced a consent decree a decade ago. Finding that conditions in the jail had grown “demonstrably worse” since then, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain placed the entire jail complex in a form of court receivership on May 13, 2025.
The City has “placed incarcerated people in ‘unconstitutional danger,’” the judge declared. “Worse still, the unsafe and dangerous conditions in the jails, which are characterized by unprecedented rates of use of force and violence, have become normalized despite the fact that they are clearly abnormal and unacceptable,” the judge wrote. The case remains pending, and PLN will update developments in the next issue. See: Nunez v. N.Y.C. Dep’t of Corr., USDC (S.D.N.Y.), Case No. 11-cv-05845.
Additional sources: AP News, The City, City & State, VERA Institute of Justice
Related legal case
Nunez v. City of New York
| Year | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Cite | U.S.D.C. (S.D. NY), Case No. 1:11-cv-05845-LTS-JCF |
| Level | District Court |
| Conclusion | Settlement |