FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 17, 2026
Contact: Yonah Zeitz: yonah@katalcenter.org • 347-201-2769
Follow on socials @KatalCenter • #ShutRikers #CutShutInvestNY
8th Human Being Dies in DOC Custody Under the Mamdani Administration
Death Follows News that the DOC Attempted to Skirt Oversight By Federally Appointed Remediation Manager and Federal Monitor
Statement by Katal Center
New York, NY – This morning, news broke that yet another person died in the custody of the NYC Department of Correction (DOC) last night. As reported by Reuven Blau of The City Reporter, Luis Alberto Lopez Castillo, 20, was found in medical distress at the Queens Criminal Court and was pronounced deceased at Jamaica Hospital. Mr. Lopez Castillo is at least the 8th person to die in DOC custody since Zohran Mamdani became mayor in January 2026.
Earlier this week, Federal Judge Laura Swain responded to a recent letter from the federal monitor, saying the DOC Commission violated several court orders by issuing a policy change that would stifle transparency and remove the monitor and the rededication manager from having unfettered access to Rikers staff.
Scott Young, a member of the Katal Center for Equity, Health and Justice, said: “Once again, another incident has transpired where a young man has lost his life while in the custody of the Department of Correction. He was found hanging in a cell, but where were the staff who were supposed to be making their rounds to ensure that he was safe? There is designated staff put on suicide watch; I know this because I have been detained at Rikers. We demand answers. My condolences to Luis Alberto Lopez Castillo’s family; he was only 20 years old and had his whole life ahead of him. No matter what brought him to Rikers, he was someone’s son, someone’s brother, a family member, and there is no way he didn’t make it home to his family. This is the 8th person to die this year while in the custody of the NYC Department of Correction. We are 10 months into the year and already 8 people are dead. This is unacceptable. Why are we still going through all of this when Rikers was supposed to be closing?
Conditions should be improving, but it seems like it is only getting worse. To know that the Department of Correction Commissioner, Stanley Richards, issued an order early this month ordering staff not to communicate ideas or strategies to the monitor or to the Rikers Island remediation manager without first briefing the commissioner is ridiculous. At a time when transparency is needed, and everyone should be working together to address the crisis at Rikers, they are removing avenues of communication. Now we have another death; this must end immediately. Families are grieving, and individuals are being harmed and traumatized.
Mayor Mamdani, think of this as if it were your own kid and respond accordingly to this crisis. Rikers Island must be shut down immediately. God bless all the families that have lost a loved one at Rikers; we deserve better.”
#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 population 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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