ICNY

At recent memorial vigil, faith leaders urge Mayor to close Rikers Island

Filed Under: Articles and Appearances by ICNY staff, Articles and Press about ICNY

ICNY’s ED The Rev. Dr. Chloe Breyer speaks at the Oct. 17 vigil.

Image taken from ABC News report.

Bronx News: Faith leaders, advocates host vigil for lives lost at Rikers Island

 
Religious leaders from different faiths and decarceration advocates joined together for a vigil commemorating the lives lost at Rikers Island. This comes on the three-year anniversary of the City Council’s vote to shut down the city jail facility by 2026, as the attendees gathered outside of Gracie Mansion.
 
One speaker, who spent almost two years at Rikers Island before becoming an activist, describes the situation as playing Russian Roulette with human lives.
 
“For some… people are taking their own lives, it’s so inhumane,” said Darren Mack, co-director of the Freedom Agenda.
 
“The conditions of people at Rikers are unspeakable,” said Rabbi Barat Ellman, one of many faith leaders present for the vigil. “Sleeping next to their feces, people who are not able to get changes of clothing, people that are stuck in showers that are serving as solitary confinement spaces.”
 
According to the Department of Corrections, Rikers Island has had 14 deaths occur at their facility this year to date, surpassing last year’s total death toll. Because of this, activists are calling for the jail’s population to decrease and for conditions to improve.
 

WABC: March led by interfaith leaders urge Mayor Adams to close Rikers Island

 

NEW YORK (WABC) — A march led by interfaith leaders on Monday urged Mayor Adams to close Rikers Island.

It has been three years to the day since city council voted to close the chronically dangerous Rikers and replace it with a system of borough-based jails which would offer more restorative services to inmates as they await trial.

The Adams administration has doubled down on the plan, publishing a detailed website on the city’s plans to complete the transformation by April 2027, a year late because of COVID, but City Hall reports the number of inmates is actually down 51 percent at Rikers since 2013.

Dealing with the current situation between now and 2027 is among the biggest concerns, with 16 inmates having died on the island this year alone. A judge will determine next month whether to hand control of Rikers to the Federal government.

“I don’t know why people think the response to a problem is allowing someone else to handle the problem,” said Mayor Adams.

For months, Mayor Adams has pointed to statistics like the number of inmate slashings and correction officer absenteeism as improving under his watch.

“I want the problem of the generational dysfunction of Rikers. I want it. I don’t want someone else to handle a problem of New York City. The problems that we have, I was elected to resolve them,” Adams said.

However, in the rain outside Gracie Mansion on Monday night, the activists insisted he must move faster.

 

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