- Fifteen Rikers Island inmates died in 2021 — the highest number since 2016.
- Each of the inmates was men of color whose causes of death varied between COVID-19, suicide, and overdoses.
- Calls to close Rikers Island continue to increase.
Fifteen men of color died while in custody at, or just after release from, the infamous Rikers Island jail in 2021 — making it the jail's most deadly year since 2016, according to The Grio.
Their causes of death varied between suicide, drug overdoses, and COVID-19, according to New York Magazine's Intelligencer, which published obituaries for all 15 men.
One man, Anthony Scott, died before he was sent to the facility and was not included in the obituary. Two inmates died within four days of each other in December — Malcolm Boatwright was 28 years old and died from cardiac arrest, while William Brown was 55 years old and his cause of death is still under investigation.
Ninety percent of the inmates at Rikers are Black or brown, according to The Grio, and the majority of prisoners are awaiting trial — including Wilson Diaz-Guzman who killed himself died by suicide in January just five days after he arrived — according to NYC Open Data.
Jared Trujillo, policy counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union, told Insider in an email that "too many New Yorkers have died or suffered enormous and irreversible physical and psychological harm as a result of conditions at Rikers."
Trujillo added that "Rikers has been plagued by an abhorrent culture of neglect and violence despite increases to the Department of Corrections' budget."
Calls to close Rikers Island, which consists of eight operating jails, have increased during the pandemic, according to The Associated Press, which cites concerns over deaths, violence, lack of medical and mental health care, and unsanitary conditions.
The city of New York plans to close down Rikers Island and replace it with other smaller jails by 2027, according to the city's "Roadmap to Closing Rikers."
But, in the meantime, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a retired New York Police Department chief, who assumed office in January, said he'd reopen solitary confinement at Rikers Island for violent prisoners, Insider previously reported.
The New York Department of Corrections, Mayor Eric Adam's office, and the City of New York did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.