AS NYC DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION RETURNS TO COURT IN RIKERS CASE, FORMERLY INCARCERATED LEADERS AND ALLIES DEMAND ACTION TO ADDRESS THE HUMANITARIAN CRISIS AT RIKERS ISLAND

City officials will appear again in federal court today, following the federal monitor's submission of a status report on DOC's Action Plan to address their ongoing non-compliance with the Nunez consent decree, and the ensuing crisis on Rikers. The report outlined a “marked decline in the quality of investigations” of staff misconduct, and use-of-force rates that remain higher than when reporting on the consent decree started in 2016. In response, members of the Campaign to Close Rikers issued the following statements.

Darren Mack, Co-Director of Freedom Agenda said, “The most recent report from the Nunez federal monitor said ‘Given the imminent risk of harm to those incarcerated in New York City’s jails, all stakeholders must continue to maximize every possible avenue to reduce the population.’  But this administration seems committed to doing the opposite - and turning their speculation about a rising jail population into reality by slashing social services while refusing to cut vacancies from DOC’s overstaffed ranks. If the Mayor really wants to address the crisis at Rikers, he needs to be taking immediate action to get people out of those deadly jails and shut them down.”

Tracie Gardner, Senior Vice President of Policy at the Legal Action Center said, "We will repeat it as long as it needs to be heard. There is no fixing Rikers - it must be shuttered, and it must be shuttered by 2027 as mandated. We need to invest in preventative measures that resource communities as well as non-carceral alternatives to incarceration that provide people with wrap around services including access to substance use treatment and holistic mental health care.

“The abuse and corruption on Rikers that the federal monitor has highlighted must be addressed immediately,” said Kandra Clark, VP of Policy & Strategy with Exodus Transitional Community. “But Rikers cannot be fixed, it must be closed, and the plans to decarcerate and close it down should be expedited. We have heard City Council and other electeds affirm their commitment holding the Mayor's office accountable to closing Rikers by 2027, as legally required. We need that same commitment from the Mayor’s Office.”

Reverend Wendy Calderon-Payne, Executive Director, Urban Youth Alliance (BronxConnect) said, “Today’s federal court hearing on the Nunez case will put the spotlight on something that our families and communities have known for a long time. Rikers is unsafe for everyone there. The city does not need to wait for direction from a judge to take urgent action to implement plans to invest in community based services, reduce incarceration and advance the closure of Rikers”

“Once again, the Monitor recommended reducing the overall jail population because ‘it would reduce the number of people exposed to the dangerous conditions in the facilities.’ The city must heed that advice. People with mental health challenges – whom the city is failing to keep safe currently and who are particularly vulnerable to the dangerous jail conditions – should be provided with services and support to enable them to be released to the community while they await trial. Given that half the jail population requires mental health treatment, and more than 1000 people have been diagnosed with serious mental health concerns, prioritizing alternatives to detention for this population would significantly reduce the jail population,” said Jennifer J. Parish, director of criminal justice advocacy at the Urban Justice Center Mental Health Project.

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