FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, August 25, 2026
Contact: Yonah Zeitz: yonah@katalcenter.org • 347-201-2769
Follow on socials @KatalCenter • #ShutRikers #CutShutInvestNY
Another Incarcerated Person Dies at Rikers
This is the 7th Human Being to Die in DOC Custody Under the Mamdani Administration
Statement by Katal Center
New York, NY – This morning, news broke that yet another person has died in the custody of the NYC Department of Correction (DOC). As reported by Reuven Blau of The City Reporter, Clarence Woodward, 41, was found dead at approximately 5 a.m. inside his cell at the RNDC facility on Rikers Island. Mr. Woodward is at least the 7th person to die in DOC custody since Zohran Mamdani became mayor in January 2026.
Statement by Kevin Valentine, a member of the Katal Center for Equity, Health and Justice:
“Clarence Woodward is the 2nd person to die in DOC custody in less than a week, and the 7th person to die this year. I express my condolences to his family.
I was detained at Rikers; I know how dangerous and horrific a place it is. No human being should be detained in those facilities. This death shows how vitally important it is for an immediate oversight review and actual reform to be implemented by Mayor Mamdani and NYC officials, the State Commission of Correction, and the Federal Remediation Manager. Rikers must be shut down. There is no time to delay this while lives are on the line.”
#ShutRikers is a campaign of the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice. Katal members, supporters, and our allies are working to cut the correctional populations and the budgets used for caging people; shut down Rikers Island; and invest in real community safety: housing, health care, education, and jobs.
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