Two more people held in city jails died by suicide in 2025 and three more fatally overdosed on contraband narcotics, the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner confirmed Monday.
The coroner’s office said Sonia Reyes, 50, who died March 20 in the West Facility, and Benjamin Kelly, 37, who died June 21 in the Eric M. Taylor Center, both took their own lives by hanging.
Terence Moore, 55, who died Feb. 24 in a holding area in Manhattan Criminal Court, overdosed on synthetic marijuana, sometimes known as “K2,” as did Dashawn Jenkins, 27, who died March 31 at the George R. Vierno Center, the office said.
James Maldonado, 56, died June 21 — the same day as Kelly — while on a Department of Correction bus of an overdose caused by the combined effects of fentanyl, morphine and methadone, the coroner’s office said. The previously disclosed fatal overdose of Ramel Powell from synthetic marijuana in February brings the total overdose deaths for the year to four.
The official causes of death in the five cases had not been previously publicly disclosed.
In addition to Reyes and Kelly, Jimmy Avila, 44, the brother of a Department of Correction captain, took his own life on Aug. 30 by hanging, but his official cause of death has not been disclosed. And after Ardit Billa, 29, died in a cell on Aug. 23 at the Vierno Center, a captain and two officers were suspended for failing to conduct required rounds. Billa’s cause of death has not been officially revealed.
“I don’t understand what they are doing over there,” said City Council member Sandy Nurse, chair of the Criminal Justice Committee, referring to the DOC. “It feels a little like they’ve given up, like for whatever reason protocols aren’t being followed. There’s no reason someone should be able to commit suicide in the jails.”
So far in 2025, there have been 12 jail-related deaths. The causes of death in the four other 2025 cases are pending further study.
“Having someone you love behind those walls is the worst feeling ever. I felt so helpless trying to advocate for my son to people who didn’t seem to care if he lived or died,” said Lezandre Khadu, who son Stephan Khadu died in DOC custody at the Vernon C. Bain Center exactly four years ago Monday. His death was caused by complications of meningitis, a treatable illness, and may have been contracted in the jail.
“Ultimately, their carelessness killed him, and the only thing worse than knowing that is that it continues to kill more people. We need to finally close Torture Island down, decarcerate, and put that money back in our communities,” he added.
Shayla Mulzac-Warner, a DOC spokeswoman, declined to comment on the individual deaths, but said in a statement the agency is “committed to preventing dangerous contraband, including drugs, from entering our facilities, as well as addressing other mental health crises.”
“We have recently disrupted several large smuggling operations and continue to enhance our operations to address the dangerous trend of the introduction of drugs into the jails,” she said.
She said DOC is launching a substance abuse program and has trained a new group of suicide prevention aides — detainees who get special instruction and keep watch on other detainees.
The deaths in 2025, however, look much like the types of deaths that took place in the jails in recent years.
In 2021, the final year of the de Blasio administration, there were 16 deaths, including four suicides and four fatal overdoses. The first year of the Adams administration saw 19 deaths, with five suicides and four fatal overdoses.
In 2023, there were nine deaths, five in 2024 and so far this year, there have been 12 deaths.
Word of the causes of death in the 2025 cases comes as a Manhattan federal judge moves closer to selecting an outside official with broad powers to run the jail system.
The federal monitor tracking violence and use of force in the jails recently disclosed roughly 30 people applied for the post, saying it favored someone experience running large correctional institutions.
In May, the judge, Laura Taylor Swain, ruled the system would not become compliant with court orders without an outside official — known as a “Remediation Manager.” Swain had found the city in contempt of a range of court orders in November following eight years of monitoring.
In a statement Monday, the city Board of Correction said reports on the 2025 deaths were in the works.
