Ninth person dies in NYC jail custody this year after Rikers detainee is found unresponsive
Cesar Gabriel Medero Curet, 36, was found in his bed at the Robert N. Davoren Center on Tuesday morning. The Correction Department said it will investigate with city and state authorities; the cause of death has not been released.
Photo: formulanone / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Cesar Gabriel Medero Curet, 36, was found in his bed at Rikers Island's Robert N. Davoren Center and pronounced dead at 6:03 a.m. Tuesday, the Department of Correction said.
- His is the ninth death in city jail custody this year, according to THE CITY and amNY, after 15 in 2025.
- He was awaiting trial on an attempted murder charge from a March 7 subway station attack, according to the NYPD. The cause of death was not released.
- Commissioner Stanley Richards said DOC will investigate with city and state authorities. The Legal Aid Society called for an independent inquiry.
- The Board of Correction reviews every death in custody; its September report on four deaths cited officers not making meaningful tours.
A 36-year-old man held on Rikers Island died early Tuesday, the ninth person to die in New York City jail custody this year, according to THE CITY and amNY.
A correction officer found Cesar Gabriel Medero Curet in his bed at the Robert N. Davoren Center, one of the 10 jails on the island. Staff called a medical emergency, and he was pronounced dead at 6:03 a.m. on Nov. 10, the Department of Correction said. The cause of death has not been released.
Medero Curet was awaiting trial on an attempted murder charge. Police say he punched a stranger at a subway station on March 7 and tried to throw him onto the tracks in front of an incoming train, THE CITY reported.
What officials and advocates said
Correction Commissioner Stanley Richards said the department was mourning the loss and would investigate "in coordination with city and state authorities." DOC said it notified, as required, the federal remediation manager and monitor, the Board of Correction, the state attorney general, the city Department of Investigation, the State Commission of Correction, the medical examiner, the Bronx and Manhattan district attorneys and his lawyer, amNY reported.
The Legal Aid Society, which represented him, said it had no information about his final moments and called for a "swift, independent, and impartial investigation," renewing its call to close Rikers. Freedom Agenda and the Katal Center's Shut Rikers Now campaign urged Mayor Zohran Mamdani to move faster to reduce the jail population and set a timeline to shut the complex, according to amNY.
The count so far
Nine people have died in city jail custody in 2026, after 15 in 2025, five in 2024, nine in 2023 and 19 in 2022, THE CITY reported. The death comes as Richards and federal remediation manager Nicholas Deml draw up reform plans. The Board of Correction reviews every death in custody; in September it issued a report on four recent deaths that cited officers failing to make meaningful tours of housing areas, among other breakdowns, THE CITY said.
We will update this story when the medical examiner releases a cause of death or the Board of Correction reports on the case.
- THE CITYNinth Detainee Dies on Rikers Island So Far This Year
- amNYRikers Island death: Subway assault suspect becomes ninth person to die in NYC jail custody this year
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