SURVIVORS OF RIKERS, DIRECTLY IMPACTED FAMILIES, AND ALLIES RALLY BEFORE HEARING ON DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION BUDGET TO DEMAND INVESTMENTS THAT SUPPORT CLOSING RIKERS
As the City Council Criminal Justice Committee convened their hearing on DOC allocations within the Executive Budgets, members of the Campaign to Close Rikers gathered near City Hall Park to call on City Council and Mayor Adams to deliver a budget that supports the closure of Rikers by moving resources from the bloated Department of Correction to crucial community needs like supportive housing, community-based treatment, and alternatives to incarceration. Participants also called on the administration to cancel plans to eliminate re-entry programs offered by non-profit providers in the city jails. Those gathered included people previously incarcerated at Rikers, family members of people who died in NYC jails and those currently incarcerated at Rikers, elected officials, organizations providing services to people held at and and returning from Rikers, faith leaders, and other allies.
In her State of the City address on March 8, New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams declared that the Council "will be a focused change-agent for the solutions and investments needed to make us safer and finally close Rikers" and the Council's response to the Mayor's Preliminary Budget highlighted necessary investments in housing, mental health treatment, and alternatives to detention and incarceration. Mayor Eric Adams Executive Budget did not address those investment needs, and reflected continued plans to cut funding to social services while preserving funding for the Department of Correction. DOC's spending per incarcerated person is 350% higher than the jails systems in Chicago and Los Angeles, while DOC remains subject to a class action lawsuit for failing to provide medical care and other essential services - and recently announced plans to slash $17M in contracts to program providers. With the recent horrific murder of Jordan Neely (who recently spent 15 months on Rikers Island) while he was having a mental health crisis on the subway, the need for a budget that prioritizes care over punishment has become an even more prescient issue for true community safety. The death of Rubu Zhao, who suffered a fractured skull while in custody in a mental health unit at Rikers, makes the issue even more pressing.
“There are persistent concerns about the City’s ability to hold the Department of Correction accountable, and the Department’s ability to safely care for those in its custody and provide a path to successful community reintegration. Current conditions in the City’s jail system, particularly on Rikers Island, undermine public safety and subject staff and detained individuals to continued violence and trauma that perpetuate cycles of harm,” said Council Member Carlina Rivera, Chair of the Committee on Criminal Justice. “New York City is not safer with more people in jail, and the City Council will not support the mayoral administration’s path forward on arresting and incarcerating more people, while slashing funding for social services providers. We can and must close Rikers by 2027 and rightsize the Department budget while making the appropriate investments in housing, mental health services, and alternatives to incarceration programs.”
“For too many New Yorkers never convicted of a crime, Rikers Island has become a death sentence. To finally close Rikers for good by 2027, the Adams administration must focus on safely reducing incarceration and reinvesting in our communities,” said Council Member Lincoln Restler.
“A vision for a more safe and resilient New York City starts with prioritizing supportive housing and wraparound services, especially for justice-involved individuals who face higher obstacles to stability. I am proud to join my colleagues to support a budget that prioritizes care and safety. Starving essential services citywide, and cutting $17M to organizations providing programs in the jail, will not bring stability. Let’s make greater investments in supportive housing, culturally competent treatment and alternatives to incarceration,” said Council Member Pierina Sanchez.
“Dodging the goal of closing Rikers by not budgeting for its closure is unacceptable,” said Council Member Gale A. Brewer. “The DOC should be refocusing more on wraparound services including mental health and drug treatment to help reduce the jail population and enable community-based facilities and support.”
Freedom Agenda Co-Director Darren Mack said, “Mayor Adams talks about 'going upstream' but only seems willing to invest real money in failed, downstream approaches like Torture Island. Every New Yorker should be clear - he is choosing to starve social services and slash funds for housing, treatment, and community programs that actually create safety, to keep the billions flowing to the most bloated and corrupt agency in the City - the Department of Correction. The City Council must stand firm to negotiate a budget that moves us forward - to resource communities, to reduce incarceration, and to get Rikers closed.”
Marco Barrios, Criminal Justice Advocate with the Mental Health Project - Urban Justice Center said, "Week after week, I visit clients at Rikers who are in desperate need of treatment they aren't getting, and I see their mental health declining. They should have received this treatment in the community, before they ever got caught up in the criminal legal system, but our elected officials have been defunding mental healthcare for decades, and spending more money on incarceration. Mayor Adams wants to continue that trend it seems, but we need the City Council to step in and make sure mental health resources are fully funded. When we do that, we'll have no problem getting Rikers closed."
“If our goal is to make our communities healthier and safer, New York City must stop wasting the $556,539 it spends to incarcerate one person per year at the human rights hellscape that is Rikers Island, and instead invest in alternatives to incarceration and alternatives to detention like the supervised release program,” said Stan Germán, Executive Director of New York County Defender Services. “By every conceivable measure, supervised release is incredibly effective at reducing rearrests and highly cost-efficient. These programs often change lives for the better by connecting our clients with the services they need. Putting aside the moral imperative, if the goal is public safety, there is no better investment for New York City.”
"True safety requires investments in our communities, not in endless funding for a Department of Corrections that cannot maintain basic safety of those who are detained in our City jails,” said Jonathan McLean, President & CEO of CASES. “DOC's proposal to cut essential reentry services provided by community partners, rather than taking a hard look at its own operations, shows a continued disregard for creating a humane jail. Instead of continuing to fund DOC, it's time to divest from corrections and invest in community programs on Rikers, alternatives to incarceration, mental health treatment, housing, and supervised release. This is the morally and fiscally responsible choice for our City - while one year on Rikers costs a staggering $550,000, it costs the city just $13,000 per person for our mental health ATI, which cuts homelessness, increases employment and reduces recidivism. It should be an easy choice for our City's leaders to invest in these proven alternatives, rather than broken and inhumane jails."
“For far too long the Department of Correction has received increased funding yet produced horrible outcomes. Dozens of people have died. Use of force remains at an all-time high. And everyone who enters Rikers leaves with more trauma than when they entered. Yet, we have the answer. We could fund preventive and decarceration efforts that have proven to be effective. And we could fund these solutions to scale! Today, we stand in solidarity for budget justice. We implore the City to make investments in housing, mental health treatment, including clubhouses, and alternative programming, such as ATIs, ATDs, and supervised release. It is time to heal our communities and transform our justice system into one that doesn't create harm," said Kandra Clark, VP of Policy & Strategy with Exodus Transitional Community.
“We know what is necessary to close Rikers, and impacted families, advocates, and defenders have been demanding the City make these community investments for years now,” said Julia Solomons, Senior Policy Social Worker in the Criminal Defense Practice at The Bronx Defenders. “Investing in resources like immediate, barrier-free housing has not only saved lives and broken cycles of justice involvement, but is proven to reduce the City's jail population. Divesting from the Department of Correction and reallocating those funds for Rapid Reentry Housing is a critical step to finally shuttering Rikers Island.”
“This proposal to cut funding for program providers is a clear message about DOC’s priorities. Historical evidence shows that community-based organizations have contributed to rehabilitation, better mental health and positive change for families and communities impacted by incarceration. The proposal opens the door for increased recidivism which would harm the city as a whole. New York needs more thoughtful investments that address the root causes of harm, both in communities and for people who are incarcerated, not more cuts.” said Reverend Wendy Calderon-Payne, Executive Director, Urban Youth Alliance (BronxConnect).
"Osborne has provided high-quality programming in NYC jails for nearly two decades. We see firsthand the value and hope our dedicated and culturally competent staff bring to incarcerated people, working with them to examine their lives and options, to take responsibility for harm done and to see a different future for themselves. This support also brings concrete opportunities and connections for success upon release. Eliminating these programs will effectively end them due to Department of Correction staffing challenges and lack of capacity to meet the need of the entire population. We call on the Mayor and DOC to reverse this decision and to pursue a public safety agenda that starts with proven programs that make jails safer for everyone who lives in, works at and visits them," said Archana Jayaram, President and CEO of Osborne Association.
“The Mayor’s proposal to trim its $1.2 billion dollar incarceration budget by cutting civilian programs on Rikers Island will further destabilize the City jails and make them more dangerous,” said Tina Luongo, chief attorney of the Criminal Defense Practice at The Legal Aid Society. “It is a bedrock of correctional practice that programming decreases violence. In a jail that has exorbitant use of force and violence rates and cannot manage basic jail functions like getting people access to medical care, the programs provided by outside professional providers need to be expanded, not eliminated. DOC has demonstrated that it has neither the culture nor the competence to provide these programs itself, and cannot be trusted to perform this crucial function.”
“Cutting $17 million in provider-administered programming for individuals incarcerated at Rikers Island is misguided.” said Lori Zeno, Executive Director of Queens Defenders. “Experience suggests the DOC is not equipped to offer any kind of programming at Rikers when they routinely struggle to produce our clients for meetings with their attorneys and for Court. We call upon the Mayor and Department of Correction to reverse this decision and support incarcerated New Yorkers with high-quality programs that might give them a chance of a life free of criminal legal system involvement upon release.”
“We strongly oppose Mayor Adams’ proposal to cut funding for programs run by non-profits in the city jails. These crucial programs offer people access to therapy, educational and job training classes, and other important services during incarceration, and help people find employment, housing and maintain connections with resources after their release,” said Samuel Hamilton, Senior Re-Entry Advocate with Brooklyn Defender Services. “We urge the Council and the Mayor to restore the program budget, while working to reduce the jail population, bring people home, and close Rikers Island.”
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