CAMPAIGN TO CLOSE RIKERS RELEASES PROGRESS REPORT ON MAMDANI ADMINISTRATION’S FIRST 100 DAYS
Today, the Campaign to Close Rikers released a report tracking the administration’s progress toward implementing the campaign’s previously released recommendations for the mayor’s first 100 days in office.
Darren Mack, Co-Director of Freedom Agenda, said,“In the First 100 Days of his administration, Mayor Mamdani has taken clear and impactful action toward closing Rikers, including opening the long-delayed Bellevue unit to provide better care to people with serious medical needs, and moving forward on funding 190 more units of Justice Impacted Supportive Housing. While we celebrate this progress, we know that Rikers is still deadly, and thousands are still suffering there. In the next weeks and months, we need accelerated action to sustainably reduce the number of people in jail, including through an Executive Budget that redirects resources away from the failure of Rikers, to scale up investment in the community-based programs that are already strengthening our communities.”
“In its first 100 days, the Mamdani administration has taken meaningful steps toward closing Rikers, including the long-awaited opening of the Bellevue wing—an important milestone that will help ensure people with serious health needs finally receive comprehensive care,” said Megan French-Marcelin, Senior Director of NY Policy at the Legal Action Center. “However, with the closure deadline approaching and the City acknowledging it will not meet that timeline, it is critical that the administration remains laser-focused on the task ahead. This means using every available tool to safely reduce the jail population, including expanding access to the life-saving supports provided by community-based organizations. A true vision for public safety must also confront the deep socioeconomic inequities across New York City neighborhoods, and move away from an overreliance on the criminal legal system toward sustained, community-centered investment.”
“By opening therapeutic housing units at Bellevue Hospital and moving to close the North Infirmary Command (NIC) jail on Rikers Island, the Mamdani administration has demonstrated its commitment to the health and safety of people in custody. In addition to the infirmary, NIC contains housing units designed to isolate people in solitary confinement. In closing this facility, the administration has taken a first step toward fulfilling its commitment to implement Local Law 42 and end the use of solitary confinement,” said Jennifer J. Parish, director of criminal justice advocacy at the Mental Health Project of the Urban Justice Center. “Much more is needed to end the human rights crises in the jails, which include not only solitary confinement but the detention of thousands of people with mental health disabilities in conditions that exacerbate their illnesses. Mayor Mamdani must act urgently to end the suffering on Rikers Island and especially to release people from these conditions. Doing so will require funding community services that prevent criminal legal system involvement and divert people from incarceration into housing, mental health, and other supports.”
"We stand in advocacy for the women and gender-expansive people at the Rose M. Singer Center on Rikers Island—those too often unseen, unheard, and underserved. We acknowledge and appreciate the early steps taken by the Mamdani Administration—but progress cannot pause here. Right now, the reality does not match the urgency of the moment. Mental health funding is being reduced when it must be expanded. Critical residential treatment beds are missing from the budget—undermining any real path to decarceration. Crisis Respite Centers, proven to keep people out of jail, remain underfunded.We cannot close Rikers without building what must replace it. This moment demands bold action—reinvest in mental health, fund treatment and recovery, strengthen community-based alternatives, accelerate the timeline for borough-based jails, and reallocate resources from vacant correctional staffing into systems that heal, not harm. Because closing Rikers is not just a policy goal—it is a moral obligation. And for the women and gender-expansive people we fight for, it is not about timelines—it is about survival, dignity, and the right to come back to their community to a life supported, not a system that cycles them back,” said Rev. Dr. Sharon White-Harrigan, executive director of the Women’s Community Justice Association (WCJA) and BEYONDrosies Campaign.
Reverend Wendy Calderón-Payne, Executive Director, Urban Youth Alliance (BronxConnect) said, “As the deadline for closure approaches, we recognize the intentional steps towards progress Mayor Mamdani has taken in his first 100 days in office. The plan to expand the use of the 6-A program is a much-needed step to decarceration. With that said there is still a great need to expedite other gap areas in order to be in line with the projected dates to close Rikers. The Bronx youth services hub, as outlined in the 2019 points of agreement, remains unfunded. There are still funding shortfalls from previous cuts to ATI and prevention services. Commitment to resourcing community-based alternatives needs to be a priority.”
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