An inmate was found dead on Rikers Island Thursday, the ninth New Yorker to perish in Department of Correction custody this year, his lawyers said.
Manesh Kunwar, 27, was found dead at the Eric M. Taylor Center center Thursday morning, seven days after being detained at the lockup, according to the Legal Aid Society.
A death at the controversial facility was confirmed by the city DOC, which said the inmate was found unresponsive and and pronounced dead around 6:20 a.m.
Officials did not release his name, nor the circumstances of his death.
Kunwar was detained in connection with an alleged 2022 Queens knifepoint robbery, according to The New York Daily News, which first reported the death.
He had skipped a court date and went to a Baltimore psychiatric facility for five months before calling police in Delaware to report that he was suicidal, the outlet reported.
Cops then reportedly extradited him back to the city, where he was charged with robbery, bail jumping, and grand larceny charges last week.
The Legal Aide Society was “devastated and outraged” by the death of “yet another” client on the notorious island jail, which is set to be closed by 2027 in favor of smaller jails in the boroughs — a plan Mayor Eric Adams recently asked lawmakers to reevaluate.
“Mr. Kunwar’s case yet again highlights the harm of incarceration in lieu of treatment. If our client had access to the services he needed and stable housing, today’s tragedy could have been avoided.
“The carceral system is no place for people struggling with mental or substance abuse issues, and all criminal legal system stakeholders must pursue alternatives that prioritize community-based resources over the confines of a cage.”
The advocates also called for a “full and transparent investigation” into Kunwar’s death.
The official cause of death will be determined by the medical examiner, officials said.
Twenty-seven inmates have now died at Rikers since Adams took office last year.
DOC officials said this spring they’d stop announcing deaths at the complex after the agency’s federal monitor asserted it violated a court order by failing to alert the monitor of five in-custody incidents, including deaths and injuries.