Rikers Island detainee is 18th person to die in NYC’s prison system in 2022

A Rikers Island detainee was found dead of a suspected drug overdose Monday, the 18th person to die in the city’s jail system so far this year — the highest annual fatality figure since 2013, officials and law-enforcement sources said.

Gilberto Garcia, 26, was found dead at the Anna M. Kross Center around 12:40 p.m., three years after he was arrested on felony robbery charges, sources told The Post.

He had been remanded into custody in 2019 after his initial arraignment, court records show.

“We send our deepest condolences to Mr. Garcia’s loved ones and family at this difficult time,” said city Department of Correction Commissioner Louis Molina in a statement. “As with every death that occurs in custody, we will conduct a preliminary investigation into the cause and circumstances.”

Garcia’s death would be the sixth confirmed or suspected fatal overdose in 2022 and the 10th suspected or confirmed one since 2021.

In 2013, 24 fatalities occurred in the city’s jail system, though the jail population back then was roughly double the size it is now, records indicate.

Last year, 16 people died while in custody in the Big Apple.