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Tell Eric Adams: We need you to be the Mayor that closes Rikers.
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Subject
Message
For over 150 years, Rikers Island has robbed generations of Black, Brown, and poor New Yorkers of their freedom and their human rights. The Rikers Island jails, and their extension, “The Boat,” have no place in a city committed to equity and justice. These jails should have been closed long ago, and you can be the Mayor to get it done. Fortunately, there is a pathway in place to close Rikers by 2027. It’s a plan that was hard-won through years of advocacy and community engagement, involving formerly incarcerated people, impacted family members, faith leaders, service providers, community organizations, and other allies. We need your leadership from day one to move that plan forward, while also addressing the present crisis in the city jails that is impacting both incarcerated people and staff. To deliver on the full promise and possibility of closing Rikers, we must, as you’ve said, close the pipeline that feeds it. We can do that by shifting resources from law enforcement to meeting people’s needs – through investments in housing, treatment, employment, supportive programming and more – while at the same time rejecting the race-based politics of fear that have fueled mass incarceration. We must also insist that incarcerated people have basic human rights, including the right to due process and to an environment that prioritizes services and quality programs, not punishment. As long as Rikers Island exists, New York City cannot be the progressive city we aspire to be. With your immediate follow-through, the plan to close Rikers can be nearly completed by the end of your first term; but if you delay, you will be responsible for extending the tragedy of Rikers Island.
