A Rikers Island detainee who died in February had 121 pills and multiple synthetic drugs in his cell, according to a new city oversight report that highlights ongoing failures by jail officials to secure housing areas and respond to medical emergencies.
The Board of Correction’s First Report and Recommendations on 2025 Deaths in Custody, released Wednesday afternoon, details the Feb. 19 death of 38-year-old Ramel Powell, who died at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center after acute intoxication from a powerful synthetic cannabinoid known as MDMB-4en-PINACA.
The watchdog agency said its findings underscore an overall pattern of noncompliance with basic safety protocols on Rikers Island and a lack of urgency when responding to medical emergencies.
Powell’s death is among 11 fatalities in Department of Correction custody reported so far this year.
The 24-page report details the deaths of the first five detainees who passed away on Rikers between the start of the year and March 31.
The board report also noted that Correction staff in two of the five deaths did not immediately notify medical personnel after witnessing detainees in distress.
In four of the cases, facility commanders delayed required notifications to central DOC leadership. Additionally, four of the five people who died had documented mental-health histories and were receiving psychiatric medication while in custody.
The latest findings come as Laura Swain, chief district judge for Manhattan federal court, is in the process of selecting a so-called “remediation manager” to take over large parts of the city’s troubled Department of Correction.
But that process has dragged on for more than six months and there’s no end in sight.
Meanwhile, earlier this year Correction staff discovered Powell unconscious in his cell with foam around his mouth hours after surveillance footage showed him entering another cell where people were smoking a white rolled-up object described as a joint.
The officer assigned to the unit’s so-called “B” post was seen observing the activity but did not intervene or call a medical emergency, investigators found.
When Powell was later discovered unresponsive, he showed signs of rigor mortis, suggesting he had been dead for some time. He was pronounced dead at 2:14 a.m., according to correction records.
A search of his cell uncovered a rock-like substance that tested positive for the opioid Tramadol, a folder laced with synthetic cannabinoid “spice” (also known as K2), and 121 loose and packaged pills, the board noted.
The officer who failed to check on Powell was later suspended and ultimately fired for dereliction of duty, according to the report.
Powell had a long history of mental-health struggles and suicidal thoughts, and had been placed on suicide watch several times during his 18 months in custody, records show.
Just weeks before his death, he was hospitalized for a suspected overdose but signed himself out of Elmhurst Hospital against medical advice.
Despite those warnings, correction officers failed to lock the cells in Powell’s housing area, allowing detainees to freely enter and exit, a violation of departmental policy.
Video also showed the assigned officer failing to conduct required rounds — and later falsifying logbook entries to make it appear as though the checks had been completed.
Just five days after Powell’s death, Terrence Moore, a 55-year-old detainee with a history of epilepsy and mental illness, collapsed and died inside a Manhattan courthouse holding pen after reportedly ingesting a pill while waiting to be transported back to Rikers Island.
Witnesses told board investigators that Moore appeared sluggish and began vomiting before collapsing. Correction officers responded within minutes, administering three doses of Narcan and performing CPR until EMS arrived, but Moore was pronounced dead at 4:52 p.m. on February 24.
The city’s Office of Chief Medical Examiner ruled his death an accident caused by a toxic mix of synthetic cannabinoids. Some — including 5-Fluoro-MDMB-PINACA, 5-Fluoro-EMB, and MDMB-4en-PINACA — were among the same family of drugs that killed Powell days earlier.
Moore had long struggled with serious health issues, including seizures and depression with psychotic features.
He was housed at the North Infirmary Command, a Rikers jail for medically fragile detainees, and had repeatedly requested medical help in the weeks before his death, the report said. On Christmas Day 2024, he filed a 311 complaint alleging that he suffered a seizure alone in his cell and that no one came to help him. Jail staff closed the complaint without verifying he had received medical attention, investigators found.
The board report also cited the death of 20-year-old Ariel Quidone, who entered city custody on March 7, 2025, after a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation. Clinicians quickly determined he had a serious mental illness and transferred him to an observation unit at the island’s Robert N. Davoren Center.
Days later, Quidone began vomiting repeatedly and showing clear signs of distress, according to surveillance footage and staff logs. Despite his visible condition, the officer assigned to his housing area did not call for medical attention.
When a suicide-prevention aide checked on him that afternoon, Quidone was found unresponsive in his cell. Correction officers administered Narcan and CPR until medical staff arrived and continued resuscitation efforts, but he never regained consciousness.
He was taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on March 15 — one day after a judge released him on his own recognizance. The board noted that no disciplinary action had been taken against the staff on duty, and the city Medical Examiner has yet to determine his cause of death.
The board also detailed the death of 55-year-old Sonia Reyes, who was serving a 364-day sentence at the Rose M. Singer Center on Rikers.
After testing positive for several illicit substances, she was moved through a series of medical and mental-health units before being placed in medical isolation at the island’s West Facility when she contracted COVID-19, according to the death review report.
Surveillance footage shows an officer speaking with Reyes in the early-morning hours of March 20, 2025. A few hours later, the officer found her unresponsive in her cell with an electrical cord around her neck. Medical staff tried to revive her, but she was pronounced dead at 5:23 a.m.
The city Medical Examiner ruled her death a suicide by hanging. The officer on duty was disciplined for failing to conduct meaningful rounds, correction records show.
Another case cited in the report involved 27-year-old Dashawn Jenkins, who was found dead inside his cell at the George R. Vierno Center on March 31, 2025.
Video showed his housing area left unsupervised for hours that afternoon, with people freely entering and exiting cells. Later that night, Jenkins was discovered unresponsive after several others had been inside his cell. Correction staff administered CPR and Narcan, a drug used to reverse overdoses, but he could not be revived.
Toxicology tests found synthetic cannabinoids in his system, and investigators discovered drug paraphernalia in nearby cells, the board review said. Two officers were suspended for abandoning their posts and falsifying logs, and one was later fired. The Medical Examiner has not yet ruled on Jenkins’ cause of death.
In its recommendations, the board urged both the Department of Correction and Correctional Health Services (CHS), which oversees medical care, to take immediate steps to strengthen oversight. It called on CHS to guarantee that individuals moved to isolation units for medical reasons continue to receive the same level of mental observation and monitoring.
For DOC, the board proposed a sweeping list of reforms — including mandatory retraining for staff on medical emergencies, supervision, and logbook procedures; routine and unannounced contraband searches; and a shift from paper to electronic record-keeping to prevent falsification of logs.
The city’s Department of Investigations since March 2019 has pushed DOC to stop using hand written logbooks to record incidents behind bars.
The board also urged the department to expand its Video Monitoring Unit to catch lapses in real time, improve tracking of delayed incident notifications, and reinforce the requirement that staff alert superiors immediately when they spot contraband or health emergencies.
