‘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.’
‘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…
‘This month, the mayor announced he will be reopening one of the closed jails on Rikers to accommodate the rising jail population driven by unchecked fear mongering from his police commissioner. This is the wrong move, especially under the horrific conditions in which people are currently being held.’
As a deepening humanitarian crisis inside the Rikers Island jail complex fuels efforts to release more detainees, a judge’s decision can come down to one key consideration: Do they have a stable address?
The Department of Correction (DOC) is refusing to disclose how it ensured the safety of inmates in its more restrictive housing units, including during a record-breaking heat wave this summer, two petitions filed in Queens court Thursday by the Legal Aid Society allege.
Dozens of men splitting a single jug of water, sweating walls in cell units, inmates sucking air from cracks under doors—these are just some of the conditions inmates and advocates have reported from Rikers Island over the past few months.
‘For decades, criminalized communities have been calling on elected leaders to fund our schools, our parks, our hospitals, our community centers, our access to stable homes and more.’
‘We can indeed come back stronger. But this moment at history requires more: It needs us to be better than our past self. Renewable Rikers is how we improve the soul of our city.’
Chinese residents and businesses in the neighborhood collected more than 10,000 signatures on a petition against the arrangement, arguing the city should have notified the community of the plan.
A member of the Board of Correction and Mayor de Blasio’s new task force on punitive segregation is confident the city can develop a new model for managing people behind bars.
