The job to close Rikers isn’t done yet
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TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | JUNE 4-JUNE 10, 2021 15
BY TRACIE GARDNER
As election day approaches, New
York City mayoral candidates are making
it clear where they stand on several
key issues. From transportation
to climate change to the economy, candidates
are letting New Yorkers know
exactly how they plan to bring tangible
change to one of the most diverse cities
in the country. However, there is one issue
that candidates haven’t adequately
addressed — and that’s the closing of
Rikers Island.
In 2019, following years of advocacy,
the City Council finally approved a
sweeping and historic plan to overhaul
New York City’s correctional system,
including closing Rikers by 2026. If that
deadline is to be met, the city’s new
mayor has substantial work to do – and
voters deserve to know precisely what
candidates have in mind.
Rikers Island is New York City’s
primary jail complex and biggest nightmare.
Intentionally built in a remote
location far from the rest of the city,
Rikers is notorious for its inhumane
conditions. People incarcerated there
are subjected to solitary confinement,
violence and sexual assault, insufficient
temperature control, flooding,
unhealthy food and, more recently, the
unbridled spread of coronavirus inside
the jail due to a willful lack of preventive
or protective efforts by officials.
While NYC mayoral candidates
agree that Rikers embodies multiple
human rights violations and must be
closed, there is still a major gulf between
what actually needs to be done
and what candidates have committed
to doing.
Let’s be very clear: the problem of
Rikers is getting worse. Conditions are
still violent and unsafe while the number
of New Yorkers jailed there only
increases.
There’s no way around it – the next
mayor will inherit this stain on New
York City. And right now, most of the
candidates have failed to demonstrate
that they grasp the magnitude of this
issue or the mountain of tasks that require
urgent attention to successfully
close it down.
While Maya Wiley supports the closure
of Rikers, and many of the abovementioned
measures, there are some
glaring omissions in her plan, including
shifting away from the criminalization
of substance use disorder and ensuring
all New Yorkers can access the treatment
they need to get and stay well – in
their communities. She wants to remove
mental health crisis management from
the NYPD, but ironically hasn’t said the
same for substance use disorders.
Shaun Donovan likewise has asserted
Rikers must be shut down and
included important measures such as
expanding alternatives to incarceration
in his plan, but he similarly neglects to
address the reality that a significant
number of individuals are sent to Rikers
because of drugs.
Both Mr. Donovan and Ms. Wiley appear
to understand broadly the many
layers of decarceration, but neither has
explicitly described immediate steps
they would take to expel the stigma that
prevents so many formerly incarcerated
individuals from securing the life
essentials they need to thrive in their
communities and avoid re-incarceration.
Meanwhile, Scott Stringer, one of
New York’s first public officials to endorse
the plan to close Rikers, is now
backpedaling. He wants to “re-work the
current jails plan,” but provided no additional
details.
Andrew Yang acknowledged that Rikers
needs to be closed and that any new
borough-based jails must be a dramatic
leap forward in conditions, treatment,
culture and the goal should be to have
jails that “reflect our values” in what
appears to be the first time he’s ever endorsed
the borough-based jail plan. However,
he also said the time frame for closing
Rikers needs to be flexible because
the city is in the middle of a crisis. But
Rikers is a crisis – right now.
Dianne Morales agreed that the
city needs to close Rosie’s The Rose M.
Singer Center, the women’s jail on Riker’s
Island by 2027, but has issued conflicting
statements on whether the city
should build the new borough-based
jails at all!
Shutting down Rikers is an absolute
imperative. It’s about saving the lives
of incarcerated people, saving their
families, and strengthening our shared
communities citywide. Rikers must be
treated like the emergency that it is.
Tracie Gardner is the vice president of
policy advocacy at Legal Action Center.
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