Calls for a federal government takeover of New York’s notorious Rikers Island jail are likely to grow after a stabbing suspect died in his cell early on Sunday morning, the seventh inmate death this year and the 26th since New York’s mayor, Eric Adams, took office in January 2022.
Curtis Davis, 44, was found lifeless on the floor of his cell at about 5.10 am, according to correction department records. Davis had been held since 1 June for allegedly stabbing a 29-year-old man in the eye.
Davis was arrested on June 1 and was being held on a $30,000 bond. His death comes a week after another inmate, William Johnstone, 47, died in custody of an apparent drug overdose.
The latest death comes days after the US attorney for the southern district of New York, Damian Williams, said Rikers “has been in crisis for years” and he would petition a judge to switch responsibility for the detention center, which stands at the mouth of Hell Gate, an area of water between Queens and the Bronx, to the federal government.
A federal report recently accused New York’s department of correction of failing to make “substantial and demonstrable progress” in implementing reforms to fix longstanding problems at the complex.
Adams opposes the jail being placed in federal receivership, arguing last week that his administration had brought “real cultural changes” to the complex and the city had “started to turn the corner” with the department of correction.
“When we inherited this department in January of 2022, it was on the brink of collapse,” Adams said last week. “We have lowered violence by double digits. We have decreased staffing absenteeism by over 70%. We have stabilized the city’s jail system.”
