STATEMENT FROM CAMPAIGN TO CLOSE RIKERS

As New York City general elections approach and candidates articulate their plans in regard to Rikers Island, the Campaign to Close Rikers issued the following statement:

“When Rikers Island finally closes, it will be a shameful chapter in our City’s history that lasted far too long. Rikers Island is a violence incubator that takes people who can’t afford bail - or quality mental health and substance use treatment - and isolates them from their lawyers and communities in jails built on decomposing trash. Generations of efforts to “reform” it have failed. It can never be humane, it can never be reformed, and it can never be consistent with New York City values. So New Yorkers will make sure it closes.

New Yorkers deserve a mayor who is committed to moving our City forward and investing in proven solutions, not working to resurrect a monument of dehumanization, dysfunction, and death. We cannot prolong the massive human and financial costs Rikers Island exacts on our families and our communities, especially while evidence-based alternatives remain underfunded. The only solution for true safety and justice is closing Rikers, not reincarnating it.”

###