A suspended guard at Rikers Island is under fire after a report found that the officer failed to conduct a mandatory tour of their assigned area on the night 32-year-old Aramis Furse was found unresponsive in his cell. The investigation revealed that the officer left their post three times for about 10-20 minutes each, allowing detainees to exchange contraband and move freely between cells.
Surveillance footage showed another detainee slipping a white rolled cigarette under Furse's door just after 11 p.m., which he appeared to accept. Detainees then came to check on him several times, flicking the light switch outside his cell and banging on his door. The officer only noticed Furse was unresponsive around 2 a.m. and radioed for help.
Paramedics took Furse to Mount Sinai Queens Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His family has expressed outrage over the guard's 30-day suspension, calling it inadequate given the circumstances of his death. "I no longer have my brother for the rest of the time that I'm alive," said Anjulie Furse, Aramis' sister.
The New York City Department of Correction declined to comment on the case, saying it is still under investigation. However, a watchdog report found that the officer's neglect fits into a larger pattern of deficient touring practices by guards and their supervisors at Rikers Island. The report noted that 28 department staffers were disciplined from January 2022 to June 2025 in part for not conducting proper tours in cases where someone died in custody.
The federal monitor overseeing Rikers under a 2015 consent decree stated that the frequency of touring deficiencies and serious incidents due to staff's failure to conduct proper tours warrants a larger number of corrective actions. The agency is reviewing the report, which also noted that "the circumstances surrounding most of the 15 in-custody deaths in 2025 reflect the worst possible outcomes of the dereliction of duty."
The death toll at Rikers last year was three times the total in 2024, according to officials. Experts say that the high jail population, currently around 7,000 people, makes it virtually impossible for the city to meet its legal deadline to close Rikers and replace it with four borough-based jails by September 2027.
Aramis Furse's family is still seeking answers about his death, which they say was caused by a combination of factors including inadequate staffing and poor conditions at the jail. "There's just so many questions I have no answers to," said William Furse, Aramis' father. "We don't have no closure."
Surveillance footage showed another detainee slipping a white rolled cigarette under Furse's door just after 11 p.m., which he appeared to accept. Detainees then came to check on him several times, flicking the light switch outside his cell and banging on his door. The officer only noticed Furse was unresponsive around 2 a.m. and radioed for help.
Paramedics took Furse to Mount Sinai Queens Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. His family has expressed outrage over the guard's 30-day suspension, calling it inadequate given the circumstances of his death. "I no longer have my brother for the rest of the time that I'm alive," said Anjulie Furse, Aramis' sister.
The New York City Department of Correction declined to comment on the case, saying it is still under investigation. However, a watchdog report found that the officer's neglect fits into a larger pattern of deficient touring practices by guards and their supervisors at Rikers Island. The report noted that 28 department staffers were disciplined from January 2022 to June 2025 in part for not conducting proper tours in cases where someone died in custody.
The federal monitor overseeing Rikers under a 2015 consent decree stated that the frequency of touring deficiencies and serious incidents due to staff's failure to conduct proper tours warrants a larger number of corrective actions. The agency is reviewing the report, which also noted that "the circumstances surrounding most of the 15 in-custody deaths in 2025 reflect the worst possible outcomes of the dereliction of duty."
The death toll at Rikers last year was three times the total in 2024, according to officials. Experts say that the high jail population, currently around 7,000 people, makes it virtually impossible for the city to meet its legal deadline to close Rikers and replace it with four borough-based jails by September 2027.
Aramis Furse's family is still seeking answers about his death, which they say was caused by a combination of factors including inadequate staffing and poor conditions at the jail. "There's just so many questions I have no answers to," said William Furse, Aramis' father. "We don't have no closure."
this is just heartbreaking how could someone be so careless and irresponsible? 30 days suspended is not enough given what happened to Aramis he deserved way more 
his family's pain is just too much to bear, i can only imagine how they're feeling right now 
my thoughts are with them and their loved ones 
, I mean, come on! They're saying 30 days of suspension for this guy and his family is like, totally not enough considering what went down in that cell 
. It's like they're just covering up the real issue here. And with all these other cases popping up, it's clear there's a pattern of neglect and incompetence going on behind the scenes 
.
. The feds are saying they need more corrective actions but I'm like, where's the beef? 
. It's all just a big mess and we're stuck in the middle of it 
.
. Something's fishy here and I aim to find out what it is 
.
. It's like, we know they gotta do better, but it feels like nobody's takin' it serious enough. Thirty days suspended? That's not even a blink of an eye compared to the impact it had on Aramis' family 
. I mean, what's 30 days when you lose your brother for life? 
. We need to see some concrete changes before we can even think about closin' this place down 
this is a really sad story 
. And what really gets me is the 30-day suspension for the officer involved, that's just not fair considering the circumstances. The family deserves so much more than that 
. I mean, how can they expect the guard to just magically notice someone is unresponsive after they left their post THREE TIMES? 
.
. The family deserves answers, and I hope the authorities are taking their concerns seriously 
. I mean, what kind of environment allows detainees to be exchanging contraband and moving freely between cells? It’s just unacceptable 
. The fact that 28 staff members were disciplined in just three years for not conducting proper tours is staggering 
. It makes you wonder how many more Aramis Furse-like situations are going to happen if something isn’t done about it 
.
. The city needs to seriously revamp its approach to staffing and protocols at Rikers ASAP 
.
. I mean, if they can't even keep track of who's where on the island, how are we supposed to trust them with our lives? The numbers don't lie, either – three times more deaths last year than the year before that? It's a ticking time bomb over there 
. And don't even get me started on the staffing issues... it's just too much to handle. Can't these people see that they're killing themselves with this place? 
30 days suspension for the guard is literally not enough considering how careless he was 
. And now Aramis is dead because of it 
. I mean, what even is that supposed to accomplish? Just some token gesture to placate his family and shut them up 
.
. It's like they're just throwing people in there without a care in the world 
. All I can do is hope that justice is served and the people responsible for Aramis' death are held accountable 
. The Furse family deserves closure, and it's time someone took responsibility for this tragedy 
.
this is really messed up... how can you expect someone to die on your watch like that? 10-20 mins is a huge gap in time, especially for something as important as security checks. and the fact that detainees were just chillin' while they waited for help to show up is just wild