By Ryan Schwach<\/p>\n
A 41-year-old man who had been held on Rikers Island for over two years was pronounced dead on Tuesday morning. <\/p>\n
Clarence Woodward, from the Bronx, is the seventh person to die in Department of Correction custody so far this year, and the second in less than a week. <\/p>\n
According to the DOC, Woodward was found by a correction officer at the Robert N. Davoren Center on Rikers Island early on Tuesday morning. Officers rendered aid, but Woodward was pronounced dead at 5:40 a.m. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur department mourns the loss of Clarence Woodward and we share our deepest condolences with his family and loved ones,\u201d said DOC Commissioner Stanley Richards in a statement. \u201cThis tragedy will be thoroughly investigated.\u201d<\/p>\n
Woodward was facing charges for murder related to a double stabbing inside a Bronx laundromat on Aug. 8, 2024. The 41-year-old was believed to be homeless and was sleeping at the laundromat with another man when the incident happened, ABC reported at the time. <\/p>\n
He was due back in court later this week. <\/p>\n
His assigned counsel could not be reached before press time. <\/p>\n
Woodward is the seventh person to die under DOC\u2019s care so far in 2026. <\/p>\n
Last Wednesday, 36-year-old Christopher Rodriguez was pronounced dead after being found in \u201cmedical distress\u201d in the outposted therapeutic housing unit at Bellevue Hospital. Rodriguez was the first person to die at the newly created outposted facility, and his family launched a suit against the city over his death on Monday. <\/p>\n
Woodward and Rodriguez died in relatively quick succession, continuing a trend among in-custody deaths this year. <\/p>\n
In May, Umais Khan and Rajpattie Ramkellawan died within 24 hours of each other in the jail complex. Khan, 40, was found unresponsive at the Eric M. Taylor Center on May 19. <\/p>\n
Ramkellawan, 41, allegedly experienced a medical emergency at the Rose M. Singer Center the day prior and was later pronounced dead. <\/p>\n
Similarly, John Price, 49, and Barry Cozart, 39, died in quick succession of one another in March. Price died at Elmhurst Hospital on March 29 after suffering a medical emergency on Rikers. Cozart, who also allegedly was found in medical distress, died at the George R. Vierno Center four days prior, on March 25.<\/p>\n
Another man, Julian Pagan, 29, died in July inside a Bronx courthouse holding cell after being arraigned but before being sent to Rikers Island. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur members who have lost loved ones at Rikers often tell us that each time another person passes, it\u2019s like a fresh wound,\u201d said Freedom Agenda Co-founder Darren Mack in a statement regarding Woodward\u2019s death. \u201cMr. Woodward had been at Rikers Island for more than two years. How can we pretend that our legal system offers everyone the presumption of innocence when people are receiving a death sentence before a conviction?\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe need urgent action from City Hall to work with judges and District Attorneys to end the massive overuse of pre-trial incarceration, and finally close Rikers Island,\u201d Mack added. <\/p>\n
Queens Councilmember Selvena Brooks-Powers, who chairs the Committee on Criminal Justice, said \u201cevery death is significant.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the cause and circumstances remain under investigation, this loss once again underscores the urgent need to ensure cases move through our criminal justice system without unnecessary delays,\u201d she said. \u201cThose awaiting trial should not languish in custody; they should be transferred to the appropriate facility, and for those ordered released, should be returned to the community.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe must also examine what is driving these deaths and whether there are systemic failures contributing to them,” she added. \u201cRikers Island is a jail, not a place where anyone should receive a death sentence.\u201d <\/p>\n
The city is legally mandated to close Rikers Island by 2027, a deadline the city is unlikely to be able to meet.<\/p>\n
Since being elected, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has said his administration is \u201cfully committed\u201d to fixing the issues at the notorious jail complex and closing it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am deeply saddened by the death of a New Yorker in City custody at a jail on Rikers Island early this morning,\u201d he said on social media on Tuesday. \u201cMy thoughts are with his family and loved ones as they grieve this loss.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ryan Schwach A 41-year-old man who had been held on Rikers Island for over two years was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":330179,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-330178","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330178","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=330178"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330178\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/330179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=330178"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=330178"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=330178"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}