ONE WEEK PRIOR TO FIRST MAYORAL DEBATE IN THE GENERAL ELECTION, FORMERLY INCARCERATED ADVOCATES, FAMILIES AND ALLIES DEMAND COMMITMENT TO CLOSE RIKERS
Survivors of Rikers, family members whose loved ones are suffering in NYC jails, and other advocates gathered near City Hall, ahead of the October 20th Mayoral Candidates’ debate, to highlight the de Blasio administration’s failures and broken promises that have fueled a growing humanitarian crisis on Rikers Island. They called on the next Mayor to treat Rikers Island like the crisis it is and take leadership to shut it down by pursuing urgent decarceration, defending the human rights of incarcerated people, divesting from DOC’s inflated operations budget, and redistributing those funds to address community needs.
After running for office on promises to address racial and economic inequity, current New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has instead caved to fearmongering from law enforcement about bail reform and Covid-related releases from jails. This has caused a spiraling humanitarian crisis as the number of people in New York City’s decrepit jails has surged since the spring of 2020. The Mayor has also given lip service to the idea of ‘culture change’ in the Department of Correction, while allowing them to consistently fail to address key provisions of the Nunez Consent Decree. Further, he has given in to outrageous demands from the Correction Officer’s union to hire more officers within the nation’s most expensive and richly staffed jail system. New York City currently spends $447,000 per year per incarcerated person, but people in DOC custody are routinely denied food, medical attention, transport to court dates, and other basic services, and are dying at unprecedented rates. The next mayor will inherit this human rights catastrophe, but will also inherit a plan to close it that has been driven by survivors of Rikers.
Darren Mack, co-director of Freedom Agenda, said, “The next Mayor will inherit the human rights catastrophe on Rikers and The Boat. But they will also inherit a plan to close them led by survivors of Rikers. They will either be the Mayor who implements this plan and erases that stain on NYC once for all; or the only mayor in the history of this City who took office with a plan to close Rikers in place but made a choice to leave it open. We won’t allow that.”
Candie Hailey, member of the Jails Action Coalition, said, “I was tortured – raped and starved – in Rikers Island. Yet people are still going through what I’ve endured. Too many have died – I mean, have been killed – at the hands of officers. It’s not right. The next Mayor needs to put an end to such abuse.”
Marco Barrios, member-leader with Freedom Agenda, said, “I have a message for this Mayor and the next – we can change the history of torture, suffering, and pain that has plagued so many families and move toward a system of reparative justice. We are asking you today to expedite the process of transferring ownership of Rikers Island from the Department of Correction to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, to carry out the Renewable Rikers vision.”
Tracie Gardner, Vice President of Policy Advocacy at the Legal Action Center, said, “What is occurring at Rikers Island is obscene - thousands of our fellow New Yorkers trapped in deplorable conditions and criminalized for issues that could and should be addressed in the community. We have relegated individuals with health issues like substance use disorder and mental illness to carceral systems like Rikers. But we know that incarceration only exacerbates these health issues, negatively impacting individuals, as well as their families and neighborhoods. It is beyond time to close torture facilities like Rikers and divest from carceral approaches. We must instead make deep multi-year investments in programming and supportive services in communities to break the cycle of poor health, incarceration, economic insecurity, and recidivism.”
Reverend James Lynch, Presidents of the Buddhist Council of New York, said, "Only when we value the lives of everyone can we ever truly be free, close and end Rikers now."
Bishop Raymond Rivera, Founder and President of the Latino Pastoral Action Center, said, “The Faith community believe in justice, which is primarily restorative. Its end goal is redemption. While we believe causing harm to other people should have consequences, keeping the Rikers jails open even one more day does not help or contribute to that process, but actually undermines it.”
Leah Faria, Community Leader of the Women’s Community Justice Association, said, “The current state of Rikers Island is abysmal and every second that the Mayor continues to ignore this crisis and his commitment to close Rikers we are in danger of losing more lives. Rikers is called Torture Island for a reason, everyone from those detained, to visiting, to working are suffering because of the conditions. The least this current administration could do is begin the process to close the Rose M. Singer Center and address the trauma it has inflicted on all who live, visit, and work there.”
Chaplain Dr. Victoria A. Phillips of the Mental Health Project – Urban Justice Center, said, “The New York City Department of Correction is not a mental health provider, not a veterans shelter, not a detox center nor a group home for young adults, elderly or disabled. New York City DOC facilities are jails. Not warehouses for our most vulnerable populations. The oversight budget for DOC decreased in 2020 while the population increased, almost doubling during a global and deadly pandemic. Deaths and suicides in the jails have also increased in 2021, of the 12 deaths to date, 2 were in solitary. On any given day 50% of the population has a mental health concern, and 17% with a serious mental illness. That’s a 10% increase since the vote to close Rikers in 2019. If we take a closer look many of these individuals end up in solitary. We have a mayor that wouldn’t visit Rikers despite 12 federal monitors reports, outlining the barbaric conditions and multiple ongoing violations of human rights. The next mayor must take hold on day 1 to preserve lives.”
Kandra Clark, Vice President of Policy & Strategy at Exodus Transitional Community, said, “Exodus stands firmly alongside the plan to close Rikers Island. We are ready and able to continue to support decarceration efforts, including operating reentry hotels for our community members who are experiencing homelessness. We urge the current & next administrations to engage in robust decarceration efforts similar to the actions the City took at the height of COVID-19 in April 2020 which brought the citywide jail population below 4,000. Collectively, we can work to transform our systems and heal our communities."
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