FORMERLY INCARCERATED LEADERS AND ALLIES CALL ON MAYOR ADAMS TO DELIVER ON HIS COMMITMENT TO “CLOSE THE PIPELINE THAT FEEDS RIKERS”

When questioned yesterday about progress toward closing Rikers, Mayor Adams suggested that the City’s adopted plans to reduce incarceration were not fully thought through. In response, members of the Campaign to Close Rikers issued the following statements: 

Darren Mack, Co-Director of Freedom Agenda said, “New Yorkers believe in fairness and justice. We know that there are clear solutions to reducing incarceration that make sense and make us safer. For decades, New York City has been pursuing alternatives to incarceration and investments in historically under-resourced communities. Hundreds of experts with a range of experience shaped the plan to close Rikers, created a roadmap to reducing the jail population with detailed solutions, and this spring, the Commission on Community Reinvestment and the Closure of Rikers issued a report outlining just what we need to do to “go upstream” to close those pipelines to incarceration. We’re awaiting the Mayor’s response.”

Jennifer J. Parish, Director of Criminal Justice Advocacy, Urban Justice Center Mental Health Project said, “Almost half of the people incarcerated in New York City jails have diagnosed mental health treatment needs. The jail population could be significantly reduced by enabling people with mental health concerns to receive supportive services in the community while awaiting trial. The city jails cannot provide the mental health treatment they need or even keep them safe. The Mayor should promote supportive housing and other interventions which are true public health and public safety solutions so that we can stop warehousing people with mental health challenges.”

Rev. Sharon White-Harrigan, Executive Director of WCJA said, “ We can’t keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results - definition of insanity.  The women are still the lowest population on Rikers Island and can be decarcerated immediately. We can and must implement Plan A by following the Path To Under 100 to get to real outcomes and solutions for the women and gender-expansive people. Plan A looks like investing back into the communities and not just trees, utilizing community-based alternatives, providing meaningful resources and support, and striving for healing and restoration. PLAN A looks like REPARATION!”

Tracie Gardner, Senior Vice President of Policy Advocacy at the Legal Action Center said, “It's as though Mayor Adams is unaware of the years of work and research done by advocates, including documenting the firsthand experiences of New Yorkers who have been detained and harmed at Rikers. To suggest there needs to be an alternate plan at this juncture is merely a veiled attempt to perpetuate what we have been fighting so hard to end. Decarceration and closing Rikers is the only path forward - and the most recent report by the Commission on Community Reinvestment outlines concrete steps to do just this, including investing in a sustainable community health system to prevent countless individuals from becoming involved with the criminal legal system in the first place and to reduce recidivism. To ensure public safety, public health, and the dignity of all New Yorkers, we must forge ahead and persist with the reforms necessary - and achievable - to drastically reduce the City's incarcerated population and successfully close Rikers once and for all.”  

Kandra Clark, Vice President of Policy and Strategy of Exodus Transitional Community said, "A broad based movement of advocates for justice and human rights worked for years to create a solid and well-rounded plan to close Rikers, a plan that has been provided to the new administration on several occasions. To close Rikers, we must focus our efforts on decarceration! We must work alongside the judicial system to ensure the maximum number of people receive alternatives to incarceration. We must also ensure the points of agreement, passed along with the land use plan, are fulfilled, which included the creation of additional transitional housing - as we all know housing is a human right and having stable housing reduces recidivism. Individuals facing city sentences - which only happens with low level offenses - should be offered an alternative in order for them to maintain their employment and housing. As community leaders, we must lead with facts over fear - all of us including the city administration. And the facts are that investing in community resources and alternatives to incarceration creates more safety in our communities than jailing people ever could. We can keep reducing the jail population and improving safety if the new administration leans on the experts - including those closest to the problem; those who are directly impacted by incarceration."

Reverend Wendy Calderon-Payne, Executive Director of BronxConnect said, “Working towards a better New York does not only involve improving lives for the “desirable” portion of the community. This requires a dedication to planning and implementation. This undertaking involves multiple layers of actions since there is such a diverse population affected. The suggested roadmap to reducing the jail population is a comprehensive plan that would give the city a strong base to facilitate the Closure of Rikers. We at BronxConnect implore Mayor Adams to not just look towards 2027 according to the letter of the law implemented by his predecessors but to understand the need for change today.”

Chaplain, Dr. Victoria A. Phillips, CEO of Visionary V Ministries and member of the Jails Action Coalition said, “At a time where a medical doctor currently sitting on the oversight board of correction has stated not once but twice that intake is not safe, why are we still incarcerating? We need a mayor who not only talks tough but produces real tangible and effective results for all of his constituents. Public safety for all begins behind correctional walls when staff are held accountable to come to work and  do their jobs, programs are consistently running and their medical and mental health needs are addressed in a humane and lawful time. In 2022 the one thing NYC DOC can guarantee is not one’s care but the opportunity to possibly die while awaiting trial in their custody and control. How many peers are assigned to the emergency response calls in our communities, how many assist DA or judges within our courtrooms for alternatives to incarceration? If these checklists were in place could we have saved Mr. Carter this year? Our mental health response cannot continue to be punishment alone. Rikers is the largest mental health provider in the state of NY yet it is a jail. Officers are not clinicians nor should ever be forced into the role.”

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