The death of Santos Edilberto Banegas Reyes, a 42-year-old Honduran national and father of two, at the Nassau County Correctional Facility last week has cast a spotlight on the persistent and deadly challenges facing America’s jails. While the circumstances surrounding Reyes’ passing remain under investigation by both Nassau County officials and New York Attorney General Letitia James, his case echoes a national crisis: drugs, addiction, and inadequate care continue to claim lives behind bars.
Reyes was found unresponsive in his cell on the morning of September 18, 2025, according to police reports cited by Patch. His family, still reeling from the loss, created a GoFundMe page seeking help to cover funeral expenses and to return his body to Honduras. “At this moment, the family is grieving deeply and asking for help to cover funeral costs and transportation to Honduras, so Santos can be laid to rest in his homeland. Any donation, no matter the size, will make a difference and provide comfort to his children and loved ones. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your generosity, prayers, and support,” the page reads.
Initial reports and the family’s fundraising page suggested Reyes was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainee. However, an ICE spokesperson clarified to Patch that he was not in ICE custody at the time of his death. This confusion is perhaps unsurprising, given that Nassau County has a longstanding arrangement with federal authorities: 50 cells at the jail are designated for ICE detainees, with the county reimbursed $195 per detainee per night, as reported by the New York Post.
The lack of clear communication has only deepened the family’s anguish. Reyes’ sister, speaking in a livestream posted by Osman Canales on Facebook, said that “neither jail nor immigration have communicated with their relatives.” The family’s quest for answers is shared by a growing number of advocates and community members. On Monday evening, September 22, a protest titled “We Demand Justice for Saints and All Innocent Immigration” was scheduled at the Nassau County Jail entrance, drawing attention to the broader issues of detainee treatment and transparency.
Nassau County Sheriff Anthony LaRocco has pledged a thorough and transparent investigation into Reyes’ death. “There is an ongoing investigation, which will be thorough and transparent, to determine the cause of death. Nassau County takes seriously its obligation to treat every prisoner humanely,” LaRocco said last week, according to Patch. Meanwhile, the county medical examiner is working to determine the cause of death.
While the specifics of Reyes’ passing are still unclear, his death is emblematic of a much larger, nationwide problem: drugs and addiction are rampant in U.S. correctional facilities, often with fatal consequences. As Here & Now and The Marshall Project have reported, American jails are far from secure when it comes to keeping out illicit substances. Michael Dawson, deputy chief at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department in Phoenix, described the situation bluntly: “This is a nationwide issue. We have only seen it grow through the opioid epidemic.”
In Maricopa County alone, there have already been 168 suspected overdoses in jails this year, with six inmate deaths confirmed as drug-related by the medical examiner. The problem is so severe that even a drug-sniffing dog overdosed at a local jail. Authorities have responded by installing new X-ray machines and deploying K9 units trained to detect drugs hidden in body cavities. “Nobody out there is going to say something is foolproof,” Dawson admitted. “But we are throwing everything we can at this problem.”
National data paints a grim picture. Between 2019 and 2023, 375 people died of overdose inside U.S. jails, according to an analysis of a federal database of in-custody deaths by The Marshall Project. The true number may be higher, as not all overdose deaths are clearly categorized in official records.
Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, estimates that about 60% of people in custody have a substance abuse disorder. “Definitely stopping the flow of drugs into prisons and jails would be a very important first step to curtailing the overdoses,” she told Here & Now. Yet, smuggling happens in myriad ways—sometimes by those arrested, sometimes by corrupt staff.
But even when drugs are kept out, the challenge of treating addiction remains. Fewer than half of roughly 1,000 U.S. jails surveyed in 2023 offered medication-assisted treatment (MAT) with drugs like methadone or Suboxone, according to Here & Now. The consequences of withdrawal can be brutal, as Dr. Caitlin Bonney, who runs the addiction medicine program at Bernalillo County jail in New Mexico, explained: “People describe it as the worst experience of their life. Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea. Body aches. Muscle aches. They can’t sleep. They want to die because of this withdrawal.”
Bonney’s clinic, which began offering methadone and Suboxone in 2023, quickly found itself overwhelmed by demand. “I knew there would be a lot — but I didn’t expect it to be so many hundreds of patients who need these services,” she said. Despite prioritizing those in acute withdrawal, the waiting list for treatment has ballooned to around 600 names. “It’s very frustrating,” Bonney admitted, citing limited resources and funding.
Even when MAT is available, drugs like methadone and Suboxone can be diverted and trafficked within jail walls. Bruce Herdman, chief of medical operations at the Philadelphia jail complex, noted, “Fifty percent of the people we start on Suboxone are removed from the program because of diversion.” In response, his facility has begun using injectable forms of the medication to reduce the risk of misuse.
The risk doesn’t end with release. Opioid overdose is a leading cause of death among people recently freed from prison, as tolerance drops during incarceration. Natasha Garcia, founder of the New Mexico Reentry Center, has seen the tragedy firsthand. “There are a lot of overdoses as people are released because they go back to the street. They’ve been clean for a while. They think their tolerance is the same. They get high, and this time they may not wake up,” she said. Her organization helps former inmates transition to treatment and support outside jail, hoping to break the cycle.
For some, treatment in jail has made all the difference. Manuel Lara, a former heroin user and client of Garcia’s, credits methadone with his sobriety. “The methadone, it’s done wonders,” he said. Now, more than a year after his release, he has a job and a family. “You got to think there’s something better for you out there. Not just a pipe and piece of foil.”
As the investigation into Santos Edilberto Banegas Reyes’ death proceeds, his story serves as a stark reminder of the urgent need for reform in America’s jails. Whether through better security, improved addiction treatment, or simply greater transparency and compassion, the stakes could not be higher for those living—and sometimes dying—behind bars.
