32-year-old Rikers Island detainee dies, 14th death in NYC jails this year

John Annese, New York Daily News on Dec 7, 2025

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A 32-year-old detainee died on Rikers Island Sunday, marking the 14th death in New York City jails this year.

Aramis Furse died after a city correction officer noticed he “appeared unwell” in his cell in the jail’s Otis Bantum Correctional Center facility about 2 a.m., a Correction Department official said in a statement.

The officer declared a medical emergency and the jail’s medical staff, followed by EMS medics, arrived to work on Furse. He died at 3:15 a.m. at Mount Sinai Queens, Correction Department officials said.

“The Department is mourning the tragic death of an individual in our custody,” Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie said in a statement. “We extend our deepest condolences to his friends and family. The safety of everyone in our care is always our foremost concern, and we will fully investigate this tragedy.”

Furse had pending criminal cases in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens on charges including armed robbery and burglary. He was being held on $150,000 bond and was slated appear in Queens Criminal Court Wednesday in the burglary case.

Another Otis Bantum detainee, 50-year-old Edwin Ramos, died in custody on Nov. 21. Ramos, who was being held on $80,000 bond since August in a burglary case, was found was in medical distress in a bathroom and taken to the jail’s medical clinic 20 minutes later, the Department of Correction said in a statement at the time.

He died in a nearby hospital just hours before a scheduled court appearance where he planned to take a plea deal “that would have allowed him to begin rebuilding his life outside of jail,” according to the Legal Aid Society.

This year is the deadliest the city jails have seen since 2022, the first year of the Adams administration, when 19 detainees died in city custody. Nine died in 2024, five in 2023, and 16 in 2021, the final year of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s tenure.

The Board of Correction released a scathing report Nov. 5 detailing a series of breakdowns that contributed to the first five deaths of 2025, reporting failures that included medical staff not being immediately notified, cell doors not secure, and officers who inexplicably wandered off post, did not conduct rounds and made inaccurate logbook entries.

The death also comes as the parties in a long-running federal class action lawsuit are awaiting Manhattan Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain’s selection of an outside manager to take over management of key elements of the jail system from the city.

The 2011 lawsuit alleges the city failed to address violence and staff use of force in the system. Swain ruled the city was in contempt of court orders in the case a year ago and ruled in May in favor of an outside manager.

The city has been in the process of raising possible appeal issues in the case, arguing Swain overreached her authority and claiming progress has been made in improving safety in the jails.

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(With Graham Rayman.)

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