A 29-year-old New York man died shortly after he was found unresponsive in a Bronx courtroom holding cell and subsequently transferred to Lincoln Hospital on July 24, and now his family wants answers. According to his supporters, Julian Pagan could not immediately pay a newly set bail of $200 cash or $400 bond and was scheduled to go back to Rikers Island for assault charges dating back to last summer.
“Only hours before his death, he was in court with me,” said Samantha Brugger, Pagan’s Legal Aid attorney. “He was alert, engaged, and showed no signs that he was experiencing a medical emergency. Upon learning that he would be returned to Rikers Island, Mr. Pagan spoke with his father in what would become one of their final conversations. His father told him to ‘hang in there’ and reminded him that he loved him. The prospect of returning to Rikers deeply distressed Mr. Pagan.
“Mr. Pagan’s family deserves answers. No family should be left to learn that a loved one entered the city’s custody alive, only to be told hours later that he had died. The city must provide a full and transparent accounting of what happened to Mr. Pagan while he was in its custody, and it must do so without delay.”
In a statement on social media, Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed an investigation will be made through the DOC and the agency’s oversight partners. DOC commissioner Stanley Richards also provided a short statement: “We are deeply saddened by this tragedy, and we share our condolences with Mr. Pagan’s loved ones. We will investigate the circumstances of this death in coordination with city and state authorities.”
Pagan is at least the fifth person to die in DOC custody this year, according to advocates. While most detention-related deaths occur after incarceration on Rikers Island, Freedom Agenda Co-Director Darren Mack said every “touch point” in the criminal legal justice system plays a role. “The courts, the NYPD, and the Department of Correction have to utilize all the tools within the tool belt to reduce the population,” he said over the phone.
Throughout his first year in office, Mamdani has assembled a team to address the crisis in New York City jails. Commissioner Richards, Close Rikers czar Dana Kaplan, and Criminal Justice Coordinator Justine Olderman all echoed many of the overlooked demands that advocates like Mack called for during the previous Adams administration, when at least 48 people died in or immediately after DOC custody.
These appointments also coincide with a federal judge appointing Nicholas Deml as a remediation manager over the DOC, granting him sweeping authority to implement the reforms needed to fix city jail safety conditions.
However, the same advocates who welcomed the Mamdani administration’s efforts on Rikers Island also remain frustrated with a perceived “carryover” in policing policy from the Adams administration. They point to persisting low-level enforcement, which they call “broken windows policing,” feeding into an already overburdened court and jail system.
“There can be no excuses for this anymore,” said Mack in an earlier statement. “Mayor Mamdani ran on a plan to emphasize community safety over the failed law-and-order policies of the Adams administration. How does a young man dying in a cell in a courthouse make our communities safer?
“Everyone involved in this tragedy needs to be reflecting on this question, from the guards ignoring the people in their custody, to the judge who chose to set bail and send this young man to Rikers, to the NYPD who are flooding our court system with arrests on low-level charges.”
