A person held in Department of Correction custody died Tuesday morning, the department announced. The individual is the eighth person to die in DOC custody this year and the second in two days.

The person in custody was being held at Bellevue Hospital’s prison ward on the Lower East Side and died shortly after 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The Legal Aid Society identified the man as a client named Albert Drye.

In a statement, the public defender organization accused the city of refusing “to provide Mr. Drye’s lawyers with the most basic information concerning his passing, and this is an all-to-common scenario that we - along with client’s family members, friends and community - routinely face in these tragic situations.”

“We demand immediate answers from the City and the jail medical staff about the circumstances leading to Mr. Drye’s death,” Legal Aid added.

According to DOC records, Drye was a Black man born in 1970. He was arrested on May 17 and was being held on three separate charges in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island.

His next court date was scheduled for Thursday, per city records.

A 40-year-old man, Anibal Carrasquillo, died on Rikers Island early Monday morning.

DOC Commissioner Louis Molina shared his “thoughts and prayers” in a statement announcing the eighth death in his department’s custody.

“To learn that a loved one passed away while incarcerated is not only devastating, but extremely traumatizing,” Molina said.

Like all deaths in DOC custody, the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, the state attorney general, and the city’s Department of Investigation will look into the cause of death.

In 2021, 16 people died in the city jails system.

The city recently received a five-month window from a federal judge to reform the jail system and avoid facing consequences, including a possible federal takeover of Rikers Island. ​​