A Rikers Island inmate behind bars for allegedly slashing a stranger with a boxcutter died in custody this week – marking the city’s first detainee death in 2025, officials and sources said. Ramel Powell,

The city Department of Correction said it was still investigating the death and had no further details on how the person died.

A 37-year-old man died in a city jail on Rikers Island early Wednesday, the first death in the system in 2025, according to officials and sources. The man, identified by sources as Ramel Powell, had been held in the Otis Bantum Correctional Center.

A Rikers Island jail complex inmate died while in custody on Wednesday morning, marking the first detainee death so far in 2025, according to the New York City Department of Correction.