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Another Rikers death puts NYC on pace to double jail fatalities from all of 2024
By
Paige Oamek
Published Aug 23, 2025
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Spencer Platt/Getty
By
Paige Oamek
Published Aug 23, 2025
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Another person has died on Rikers Island, the ninth person this year in Department of Correction custody, not counting a man who died shortly after he was released in March.
Ardit Billa was found “unresponsive in his cell” by officers at the George R. Vierno Center at 12:25 a.m. Saturday morning, according to city officials. The city Department of Correction said officers responded with emergency medical aid but Billa, 29, was pronounced dead shortly before 1:00 a.m.
In a statement, DOC commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie said the department is committed to a “full review of the circumstances surrounding this incident … Any loss of life in our custody is a tragedy.”
Overall this year, ten individuals have died in custody or shortly after being released — double the number of in-custody deaths for all of last year.
According to court records, Billa was arrested in January and charged with multiple counts of assault and criminal possession of a weapon as well as a separate case involving burglary, trespass, and criminal possession of stolen property. He was set to appear in court in three weeks.
The death adds to ongoing concerns about inmate safety at the notoriously violent jail complex that is currently teetering on the brink of a federal takeover.
While the DOC listed Billa as the ninth death, advocates and other city officials include a 10th person, Ariel Quidone, in the count. Quidone had a medical emergency on Rikers and was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital in March. DOC released him while the medical emergency was underway and he died shortly after, city officials said
In July, Edwin Quispe, 33, died at Rikers after being found on the floor of a bathroom. Earlier in the summer, two detainees died in separate incidents on the same day in custody.
This summer, the City Council passed a bill requiring the DOC to notify families of the deceased, as well as the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner and oversight agencies, in a timely manner following deaths in jails. The bill, which Mayor Eric Adams declined to sign, automatically went into law 10 days ago, according to Council records.
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Rikers Island
new york city
public safety
Paige Oamek
Paige Oamek is a reporter on Gothamist & WNYC's day-of general assignment desk.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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