1.) How are you connected to this movement?  

Unfortunately, due to my son's death in Rikers is how I'm connected and I joined Freedom Agenda. 

2.) Why should Rikers close?  

Oh, wow. For so many reasons. Personally, I want it to close because that's where my son died. And for many, many years, it has been a problem. My brother was incarcerated there. My ex-husband was incarcerated there. My current husband was incarcerated there a few years ago. I think back in 2014 or '15, my son was stabbed almost 20 times. And thank God he lived to tell that story. And unfortunately, he didn't live to tell this one. And so many reasons, so many reasons. You know, as a mom, I'm not just wanting to close it because of the death of my son. I don't want any mother, brother, sister, any parent to go through the pain that my family is currently going through.  

You know, even in the upstate jail, my brother was there, and he had a mental breakdown and was never the same. He came home a very, very different person. And it wasn't easy. You know, even with my husband, sometimes when we have lights on when he's sleeping, he doesn't like it. He feels like he's in a dorm room. So, you know, it's deep. It's very deep. Jails torture. There's no other way about it. And, you know, to have to go through this for so many years and then have something so tragically happen to our family, I don't even know what to do anymore. All I know how to do really is fight. 

3.) What is your vision for a more just and equitable post-Rikers New York City?  

I know we want jails in the boroughs. And once Rikers closes, it will be a fantastic day for me. It will not bring my son back, but it will just somewhat close that chapter, like okay, my baby's gone and so was the place that killed him. But I think that for the jails in the five boroughs, I think what they really need to look into, number one, to make it better than Rikers was, is of course better mental health screenings, because I think that's a big problem. And unless you fix that, it's just going to be the same way as Rikers was. So that would be a problem. So hopefully, the closing will satisfy some people, but it's a big project, and everything has to be done properly. And hopefully, it gets done.