“Every assessment and transfer deadline that passes without action delays the benefits of a transformed Rikers Island for all New Yorkers, especially those in the communities that have been directly harmed by unjust criminalization and environmental injustice.”
August 2, 2023 https://citylimits.org/2023/08/02/opinion-delivering-on-the-promise-of-a-renewable-rikers/“Rikers Island is not a necessary institution. There are plans and legislation underway that will remove our neighbors and fellow New Yorkers off of Rikers and into a smaller system borough-based facilities. This would bring families closer to their loved ones, improve conditions for people detained, and end our over-reliance on incarceration.”
February 1, 2023 https://citylimits.org/2023/02/01/opinion-mayor-adams-stop-stalling-on-plan-to-close-rikers/“A hearing in federal court could decide whether or not the city, under Mayor Eric Adams, will maintain control of Rikers. The feds should take over.”
November 17, 2022 https://citylimits.org/2022/11/17/opinion-rikers-crisis-demands-federal-receiver/The city’s plan to close Rikers by 2027 is “not a perfect plan, but it’s the best plan thus far. And to do the bold and necessary thing—to see this plan through to completion—will take moral courage and political leadership.”
September 13, 2022 https://citylimits.org/2022/09/13/opinion-the-moral-imperative-to-close-rikers-island/In the week before the recent heatwave, Department of Correction officials testified at a hearing that nearly 200 individuals incarcerated at the jail with conditions that are exacerbated by heat were still without air conditioning.
July 27, 2022 https://citylimits.org/2022/07/27/some-rikers-detainees-had-no-air-conditioning-during-heat-wave-lawmakers-say/The 7-day positivity rate in New York City jails was just over 19 percent on Sunday—down from nearly 37 percent just a week prior, the most recent data shows. But the humanitarian crisis at Rikers Island continues unabated, attorneys representing those behind bars testified Tuesday.
January 12, 2022 https://citylimits.org/2022/01/12/covid-19-surge-at-rikers-begins-to-decline-but-chaotic-conditions-persist/‘The number one priority for both city and state government right now must be to create a humane, accessible trauma-responsive center in New York City for the small population of women and gender-expansive people that will remain incarcerated.’
November 10, 2021 https://citylimits.org/2021/11/10/opinion-transferring-women-and-trans-nyers-from-rikers-to-prison-is-not-the-solution/Beginning this week, the city and state will begin transferring around 230 detainees being held at the troubled New York City jail complex to state correctional facilities in Westchester, what they say will help ease the ongoing humanitarian crisis at Rikers. But advocates are worried about the impact of the move, some calling it rushed and misguided.
October 19, 2021 https://citylimits.org/2021/10/19/advocates-attorneys-push-back-against-plan-to-transfer-women-and-transgender-people-off-rikers/‘City leaders have asked for our trust to embark on yet another massive jail building spree, at the cost of almost $10 billion dollars. But we can learn from the history of “reform” on Rikers Island, and Blackwell’s Island before it.’
October 12, 2021 https://citylimits.org/2021/10/12/opinion-the-history-of-rikers-island-proves-that-reform-isnt-possible/‘I’m telling my story in the hope that fewer people like me, struggling with drug use and mental health issues, end up in here. I am writing to ask the New York State government to pass the Treatment Not Jail Act, which would mean people who get arrested because they really need help actually get treatment, and not jail.’
October 4, 2021 https://citylimits.org/2021/10/04/opinion-im-writing-this-from-rikers-island-i-hope-you-get-the-help-i-didnt/
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