ON INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AWARENESS DAY, FAITH LEADERS AND SURVIVORS OF RIKERS DELIVER POSTCARDS TO MAYOR ELECT MAMDANI AND LAY OUT PATH TO CLOSING RIKERS ISLAND
On International Human Rights Day, interfaith leaders and organizers held a prayer service and panel about the Campaign to Close Rikers and next steps toward its closure after the failures of the outgoing Eric Adams administration. The event included delivery of over 1,700 hand-signed postcards from every borough of New York City to Grace Bonilla, Co-Chair of the Transition Team for Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani.
In 2019, after years of grassroots organizing New York City passed legislation requiring that Rikers Island close by August 31, 2027. Under this plan the City will substantially reduce the jail population and replace dilapidated jails in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx with a smaller borough-based jail system connected to the courts. The Independent Rikers Commission has estimated the plan will save at least $1.8 billion annually in jail operating costs. But despite the legal requirement to close the Rikers jails by 2027, the plan has faced delays and resistance, and more than 60 people have died in New York City jails, or immediately after their release, since the Close Rikers plan was passed. After 47 deaths in DOC custody under the administration of Mayor Eric Adams including 14 this year, New Yorkers chose in November to elect a Mayor who has publicly aligned himself with the plan to close Rikers.
Reverend Frederick A. Davie, Senior Executive Vice President for Public Theology and Civic Engagement, Union Theological Seminary said, “Rikers Island stands as a sad and tragic stain on New York City. It’s long past time for it to be closed, and for the city to model reform and rehabilitation through a new set of smaller and more humane borough based facilities. New Yorkers expect no less.”
The Rev. Dr. Chloe Breyer, The Interfaith Center of New York said, “On Human Rights Day, we remember that the call to close Rikers is a call to honor human dignity—and in NYC, a call to follow the law. For years, faith leaders who have prayed with and cared for people on Rikers have witnessed suffering that no city committed to justice should allow to continue. Closing Rikers is not only policy— it is an act of compassion, decency, and moral responsibility—long overdue. We look forward to working with Mayor-Elect Mamdani to ensure New York moves with courage and clarity toward a safer and more humane future for all our neighbors.”
“Rikers is a moral, ethical and spiritual failure. Rikers is horrifically overcrowded. The vast majority of the people incarcerated there are Black and Latine, and are detained without trial. The sexual and physical assaults many of them experience are relentless and unconscionable. Prisoners cannot easily meet family or attend their court dates because of the remote location. And there are increasing number of deaths, including suicides, because of the inevitable and worsening mental health crises that people there experience,” said Sunita Viswanath, of Hindus for Human Rights. “We Hindus see God in the face of every person incarcerated at Rikers. Lord Krishna was born in a prison. His divine powers enabled his passage to safety, and his entire life was devoted to justice. With the example of Lord Krishna in our hearts, we commit ourselves to the effort to close Rikers and ensure compassionate care for our city's mentally and physically ill."
Selina Fulford of Masjid Sabur said, “GOD Loves His Creation, He Loves us All, Lets Love each other the same way.”
Darren Mack, Co-Director of Freedom Agenda said, “Today, on International Human Rights Day, approximately 7,000 of our neighbors are suffering on Rikers after four years of Eric Adams doing everything in his power to delay its legally mandated closure and fill up its deadly jails. But it's also a hopeful day, because we're delivering thousands of postcards from New Yorkers in every borough to Mayor-Elect Mamdani, calling on him to deliver on his campaign promises and take urgent action to close Rikers. This action must include investments in supportive housing, community-based mental health treatment, and services for people coming home from incarceration. New Yorkers know that subjecting our neighbors to torture on Rikers while refusing to fund vital services and proven alternatives undermines both human rights and public safety.”
Helen Skipper, Executive Director of the NYC Justice Peer Initiative and Vice Chair of the NYC Board of Correction, said “I speak from my scar and not my wound: My wound has been healed into a scar because I have transformed my lived experience into professional lived expertise. Those of us with lived experiences are the experts in the room - we speak from personal experiences - the system is broken and must be transformed - who better to transform it then those of us who have been there and survived! We are no longer voiceless - kept silent in the dark - we stand collectively together to proclaim that we are the last to endure the atrocities - we are the change agents demanding space to take our rightful place in the healing and the transformation! I do what I do so that the system does not build any more Skips - so that no more daughters, sons - citizens of our great city have to go through what I went through!”
Jason Rodriguez, Policy Associate at the Legal Action Center said, “As a new mayoral administration takes office, we have both a historic opportunity and a moral responsibility to finally close Rikers Island — and to replace it with real investments in what we know make communities safe. Some of that requires new investments in programs that we know are already doing some of that work. ATI and reentry programs across this city are doing the work every day to interrupt cycles of incarceration and give people a real path forward. The next administration must use every tool it has to support and expand these programs — and close the door on the era of punishment-as-policy in New York.”
Stephanie Frias, Intern for Urban Youth Alliance, said “Fyodor Dostoyevsky once said that “the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.” On International Human Rights Day, I hope we all take a second to understand the levels of brutality and deprivation happening within our prison systems, and what we can do to stop it. I believe that with enough hardwork, dedication, and commitment we can close Rikers, and turn to more socially conscious, and restorative methods. In one of the wealthiest cities in the world there is no reason to have one of the most deadly prison systems. In trying times turn to your community for love, support, and resilience.”
Members of the Osborne Association’s Youth Action Council said, "We are the Youth Action Council and all of us have had an incarcerated parent. Rikers creates pain and suffering for no reason and Rikers must be closed immediately. We are concerned because many young people, including some of us, have parents who spent time on Rikers Island and we are very worried about their mental health. When our parents are released, they are so traumatized by the horrible conditions on Rikers that it negatively affects our relationships and they struggle. We'd like to see our parents get the help they need, like counseling and drug treatment rather than being sent to Rikers. If a parent is sent to Rikers, we must be able to see them. Why does it have to be so hard to visit? We ask for a shorter security screening process because it is not right that screening takes longer than the length of the visit itself. We ask for a child-friendly screening process where we don't feel violated by intrusive pat searches or treated as if we did something wrong. Close Rikers now!"
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