FAITH LEADERS GATHER FOR VIGIL AT GRACIE MANSION IN REMEMBRANCE OF LIVES LOST AT RIKERS THIS YEAR
On the third anniversary of the vote to close Rikers Island, diverse faith leaders, in collaboration with the Campaign to Close Rikers, gathered for an Interfaith Vigil to mourn the lives lost in the City’s jails, and call on Mayor Adams to:
Acknowledge the humanitarian crisis at Rikers Island, the humanity of people held there, and the city's responsibility for their well-being
Work with DOC Commissioner Louis A. Molina to use his powers to release people serving City sentences
Work urgently with judges and district attorneys to release people from the city’s deadly jails, and stop sending people into conditions where their lives are at great risk
By substantially reducing the jail population, create the possibility to ensure that people remaining in the jails have access to medical care, programs, out-of-cell group engagement, and other critical services
Move with all possible urgency to close Rikers Island, including advancing the existing closure plans and expediting the closure of the women’s jail
Five deaths have occurred in NYC jails in the past three months, including four suicides. With sixteen lives lost this year in (or immediately after being released from) DOC custody, the soaring death rate is on pace to exceed the 16 deaths in city jails last year, and brings the total to 32 deaths in the past 22 months. Furthermore, reports from the Nunez Federal Monitor and another class action lawsuit continue to show that people in the jails are not being provided with basic services, including medical care, and continue to be exposed to excessive use of force by guards.
Rev. Dominique C. Atchison, Director of Racial Justice Initiatives at the Interfaith Center of New York, said, “As people of faith, we are called to care deeply about the wellbeing of all of God’s creation. It is for this reason that faith leaders have always been at the forefront of this movement to close Rikers. We come together to call upon the names of those who died on Rikers Island this year and to remind our City leaders of commitment to close Rikers and build borough-based jails. Riker’s Island is reflective of an old paradigm, that sees detainees as less than human and undeserving of basic human and Constitutional rights. We call upon our elected officials to hold themselves accountable and move forward with the plan to close Rikers.”
“Tonight is the Jewish celebration of Simchat Torah, when we commemorate the start of a new cycle of Torah readings. Traditionally, Jews celebrate by dancing with the Torah, but I can think of no more appropriate an observance than to be here in solidarity with sisters and brothers incarcerated on Rikers who are – as the book of Genesis teaches us – made in the image of the divine, and who are worthy of the dignity and consideration we all desire and expect. Rikers is incapable of providing either and must close down completely,” said Rabbi Barat Ellman of JFREJ (Jews for Racial and Economic Justice) and T’ruah: The Rabbinic Voice for Human Rights.
“After decades of mismanagement, bureaucracy, and abuse, Rikers Island has a culture of brutality and impunity that no person should be subjected to, said Rev. Dr. Chloe Breyer, Executive Director of the Interfaith Center of New York. “We are here tonight to pray for the 32 people who have died in the last 22 months while in City custody and to call on the Mayor to keep us on track for closing Rikers Island. As a city, we can do better.”
Rev. Karmen M. Smith, Director of the Center for Community Engagement and Social Justice, Union Theological Seminary, said, “In order to respect and remember the lives lost, we must respond to the cries for justice emanating from inside Rikers.”
James Lynch, President of the Buddhist Council of New York, said, “We must never forget that our humanity is measured in direct proportion to how we treat those who cannot defend themselves or who have been silenced by circumstance. Riders as it now stands must be closed.”
“It’s important in this movement that all people come together, especially faith leaders, to focus our communities and ensure that Rikes does close,” said Rev. Sharon White-Harrigan, Women’s Community Justice Association. “It will take all of us in unity to make this happen. We don’t want another life lost.”
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