NEW YORK — A 40-year-old man died at the Rikers Island jail complex on Tuesday, officials said. It was the second death at the troubled facility in 24 hours and the fourth in New York City Department of Correction custody this year.

Staff members found the man, Umais Khan, in his bed at the complex’s Eric M. Taylor Center shortly before 11 a.m. and were unable to rouse him, officials said. Lifesaving measures were unsuccessful, and he was pronounced dead about a half-hour later, officials said.

Stanley Richards, the correction commissioner, said in a statement that he was “absolutely devastated that we have lost someone in our care.”

“On behalf of myself and the department, I share my deepest condolences with his loved ones,” Richards added. “This incident will be investigated.”

It was the second such statement of sympathy from the commissioner in two days. The first came in response to the Monday morning death of Rajpattie Ramkellawan, 41, who, according to correction officials, experienced a medical emergency while being held at the complex’s Rose M. Singer Center and was pronounced dead at 11:13 a.m.

The deaths of Khan and Ramkellawan follow the deaths in March of two detainees and underscore the challenges confronting Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the face of an August 2027 deadline for closing Rikers that his administration appears unlikely to meet.

Mamdani, in a message posted on social media Tuesday, called Khan’s death “an unimaginable loss” and said that “our 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.”

Fifteen people died in city custody last year, five died in 2024, nine died in 2023 and 19 died in 2022. The continuing death toll, critics say, shows that Rikers is still plagued by the dysfunction, violence and inadequate supervision that led to the appointment more than a decade ago of an outside monitor to scrutinize the complex’s operations as part of a class-action lawsuit.

Since then, the monitor, Steve J. Martin, has documented persistent problems at Rikers in a series of publicly filed reports. Last May, the judge overseeing the settlement, Laura Taylor Swain, stripped city officials of their control of the jails. In January, she installed Nicholas Deml, a former CIA officer, as the main person to make major decisions related to Rikers.

Deml is to work with Richards, the first formerly incarcerated person to lead the Correction Department, and Martin, whose role does not give him the power to make changes.

Richards and Deml are in Germany this week to tour prisons and speak with German officials as part of a program sponsored by the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit organization that studies and promotes changes to the criminal justice system. The group paid for the trip, correction officials said.

Richards said in an interview Tuesday that the deaths of Khan and Ramkellawan in such a short span were a “tragedy.”

“Jails and prisons should cause no harm,” he said. He added: “Our obligation ought to be about preparing people for reentry when they come into our care.”

The city medical examiner’s office will conduct autopsies to determine what caused the two latest deaths. A spokesperson for the office said no final determinations had been made in the two March deaths, of Barry Cozart and John Price.

Correction officials said they were investigating the deaths of Khan and Ramkellawan and had notified the federal monitor; the Board of Correction, a watchdog agency; and the state attorney general’s office about them.

The city’s total jail population was about 6,700 as of April 26, Correction Department data shows. Most of the detainees were at Rikers and awaiting trial. Khan was held there since being arrested on a warrant this month. He was awaiting trial on burglary and other charges, court records show. His next scheduled court date was in July.

Ramkellawan was in jail since March and was also awaiting trial on burglary charges, court records show. Her next scheduled court date was next week.

Khan and Ramkellawan were represented by lawyers with New York County Defender Services. In a statement Monday, Katherine LeGeros Bajuk, a mental health attorney specialist with the organization, described Ramkellawan as “gentle and kind.”

“She never lost her childlike innocence despite encountering unimaginable trauma and adversity,” Bajuk said. “Throughout her young life, she struggled to cope as many do and endured intractable behavioral health challenges.”

Stan Germán, the group’s executive director, said in a statement Tuesday that Ramkellawan and Khan “were beloved by their families and should be with us today.”

“We eagerly await the results of the medical examiner’s autopsies, the pending city investigation, and how, moving forward, the Department of Correction intends to keep incarcerated individuals alive in their care,” he added. “Rikers Island is not a treatment center for those struggling with mental illness and addiction. Our city must do better.”

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Ed Shanahan/Karsten Moran
c. 2026 The New York Times Company