Department of Correction

A seventeenth person has reportedly died on the Rikers Island jail complex this year — surpassing the number of in-custody deaths the New York City’s Department of Correction saw in 2021. Erick Tavira, 28, died Saturday while in custody at the George R. Vierno Center, the city reported. His cause of death will be determined by the city’s medical examiner….

The inmate climbed a recreation yard fence at the the floating jail known as the Vernon C. Bain Center shortly before noon and jumped into the water, a spokesperson for the city Department of Correction said.

The New York City Department of Correction said that three Rikers Island staff members have been suspended in connection with the jail’s latest inmate death.

One of New York City’s top litigators, a Harvard and Oxford graduate with decades of government experience, will join the NYC Department of Correction as its general counsel. Paul Shechtman will join the DOC as deputy commissioner of legal matters, the city’s jail system said Tuesday. Shechtman is a former chief of appeals and chief of the criminal division...

Four Rikers Island officers are facing charges after they were accused of doing nothing while the prisoner in their care tried to hang himself. News 4’s Erica Byfield reports.

Today, the family of the tenth man to die in Rikers Island this year expressed their anger and frustration. Chris Glorioso reports.