Nineteen Rikers Island inmates died last year, marking a high the New York jail complex hasn't seen in more than 20 years. Each death has received significant media attention. The embattled prison complex is under the review of federal monitors and under court order to reform to better keep its prisoners—many of whom are being detained pretrial and have not yet been convicted—safe.
This week, as Rikers remains under intense public scrutiny, media outlets reported an abrupt change in policy there. New York City's Department of Correction will no longer inform the press when an inmate dies. This comes after two inmates, Rubu Zhao and Joshua Valles, died in May. The department didn't publicly report either death.
