A man became the first detainee to die on Rikers Island in 2024 while playing basketball on Thursday morning, Department of Correction (DOC) officials said.
DOC officials say the man, Chima Williams, age 43, collapsed while shooting hoops at the Eric M. Taylor Center on Rikers Island at about 9:45 a.m. on Jan. 4. The man was provided medical care by staff and medical personnel on scene, but could not be saved.
The cause of death was not disclosed, and a DOC spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.
This is the first death on Rikers Island in 2024; twenty-eight people have died in the island jail complex over the course of the Adams administration.
Mayor Eric Adams has taken significant heat over his administration’s management of the notorious penal facility, with the federal monitor overseeing the jails dinging DOC for being uncooperative and opaque.
As a result, the city is facing the specter of a federal takeover of Rikers to ensure a safe and orderly environment for detainees and workers. Numerous politicians and advocates have been joined by the US Attorney’s office in Manhattan in calling for receivership, and last month a federal judge held the city in contempt of court after a fire took place in a unit set aside for arsonists, and nobody at Rikers bothered to notify the monitor.
Last month, embattled Corrections Commissioner Louis Molina was replaced by Lynelle Maginley-Liddie, just days before the city was held in contempt. It appears the new commissioner may be attempting a more conciliatory tone as the threat of receivership becomes more real: DOC notified the media about the in-custody death just hours after it happened, an apparent reversal from a policy put in place last year to stop informing the media of detainee deaths.
DOC’s statement was also sure to note that the agency was promptly informing the federal monitor and other watchdogs, and would “conduct a full investigation and will cooperate with all outside entities.”
City law requires that Rikers must be closed and replaced with four new “borough-based jails” by 2027; while Mayor Adams has committed to close Rikers, he has cast doubt on the 2027 timeline: the jail population continues to grow from COVID-era lows, while the new jails will likely not be complete for years after the deadline.
Updated at 3:34 p.m. on Jan. 4.
