“All the people who come now to Rikerselected officials or the press itself, may notice that things really are different (…) We are going in a positive direction”, is one of the phrases with which the Commissioner of the Department of Corrections of the City of New York (DOC), Louis Molinahas defended tooth and nail his work during the last 19 months, to contain the crisis in the prison of Rikers Islandunder the Administration Adams.
And just when the option is on the table for an independent judicial administrator to take over the reins of the jail, where on average there are some 6,000 inmates per month, which would take control away from the City, and in light of reports from compliance entities , who have been denouncing dangerous violations of health and safety in all prison facilities, protesters demand that Mayor Adams take actions to guarantee the well-being of inmates and the protection of their basic human rights.
With shouts and banners demanding the immediate closure of Rikers Island“treatment not prison,” and more investment in education, not punitive measures, the protesters demanded the City immediately establish a formal release policy in response to what they call “an ongoing humanitarian disaster,” which will go along the same route as the plans for the definitive closure of the prison, scheduled for 2027.
“Shut down Rikers now. It is a place that continues to be a center of abuse, negligence, classism and criminalization… what is happening there is unacceptable and that is why, to reduce the damage, we come here, not to ask but to demand that the mayor be released from prison,” said Neil Berry, leader of the VOCAL-NY organization.
Eileen Maher, An advocate for Rikers inmates, she called the prison a place of “horrors,” where 26 inmates have died since last year and 42 since 2021, and asked Mayor Adams to side with the families of the inmates. and of the prisoners to put a stop to the outrages.
“Last year we came here with these same claims and the Mayor said he was going to do something and he hasn’t done anything. Continue with police handling instead of promoting release plans to stop the crisis that continues to move, and push for actions that address the roots of the problem and prevent more people from continuing to be sent there,” said the activist, while demanding that they be Keep in mind an eight-point plan, which also includes training for the guard on suicide prevention, on the treatment of trans and LGBT people, education, maintaining the stabilization plan for those who are released from prison to hotels, and more transparency on the part of prison authorities.
Luis Bolanos Ordonezorganizer of the VOCAL-NY civil rights union, also criticized the work that the City has been doing to end the Rikers crisis and mentioned that the only current way out is the early closure of the prison.
“The message is quite simple. In the conditions that the prisons in New York are currently in, really no one who enters is really improving their behavior, they are recovering, there is no rehabilitation at all. All the people who enter are abused, in some cases tortured and in some cases even murdered in horrific ways. AND if someone gets out of there they end up getting worse”, said the organizer, who insisted that several inmates be released.
“We believe that people who have mental health problems, addiction, people who are guardians or responsible for homes, single fathers and single mothers, should have a chance to be free and be able to contribute more to society,” he said. Bolanos. “LGBT people, trans people are at great risk of being abused in Rikers and the fewer people there are behind bars, there will be less suffering, fewer deaths, but the Mayor assumes more unreasonable positions every day and we are concerned for Rikers’ lack of transparency about deaths.”
The activist referred to the case that federal judge Laura Taylor Swain is currently reviewing, to decide if she finds valid the complaints of inmate defense organizations and Federal Monitor, Steve Martin, who request that control of Rikers be removed from the City and handed over to a receiver, and he was dubious.
“The real solution is to release people and close Rikers.Well, previous examples in other places where there has been an independent administrator is that things improve while that person is there but then they return to what they were before and sometimes they get worse, ”said the defender. “It seems positive to me that the Judge sent a monitor to keep an eye on him, but also when that decision is made on whether control is taken away from the City, it must be seen that a person who knows about Rikers, who has been there, is handed over. , who knows the situation, or if not, it does not make sense ”.
Edwin Santanaof the organization Freedom Agendaalso does not look favorably on the work that the Municipal Administration has carried out on Rikers and affirms that if the go-ahead is given for the management of the prison to be handed over to an independent Administrator, the work that the new official would have to do is to close the prison.
“The only way to fix things at Rikers is to shut it down, there is no other option. If an administrator comes and closes it, I support him, but if not, no, because the goal we have is to close it, as already ordered by law. We know Rikers is in chaos and we have to do something,” said the organizer at the rally, who carried a sign comparing Mayor Adams to former Mayor Rudolph Guilliani and sent him a message. “Mayor please close Rikers. The culture of violence is still there. Don’t keep denying it. The corrections officers who had been there for years doing things wrong are still there, they have not been removed. The mayor is putting a Band-Aid on a huge evil. You have to close Rikers, it’s the only way“.
On the other hand, the organization Legal Aid Societywhich advocates for the well-being of inmates, called on the Big Apple prison authorities to take measures to guarantee the safety of inmates, preventing dangerous fires from breaking out.
The advocacy group recalled that Rikers Island has experienced numerous fires over the past decade. Just last April, a fire at the unit known as NIC injured 20 inmates and staff, including two who suffered severe burns, from a sprinkler system failure, which the Department of Corrections did not report. managed to determine how long it hadn’t worked.
“This pattern of gross non-compliance at Rikers Island continues to put lives at risk,” said Veronica Vela, supervising attorney for the Legal Aid Society’s Prisoners’ Rights Project, after noting that a recent DOC audit of the Security Office’s post against Fires revealed that no mandatory weekly or monthly fire safety reports were completed from April 1, 2022 to April 30, 2023.
“The recent fire safety audit has shown, once again, that the DOC has little interest in providing safe and humane living conditions for those incarcerated at its facility. The unfortunate truth is that as long as Rikers Island is open, everyone who lives and works there is in constant danger from numerous, ever-present and unaddressed security breaches.”
After the demonstration, El Diario consulted the Adams Administration about the complaints and claims expressed, but the Mayor’s Office did not comment.
