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“[New York] city council voted to close Rikers back in 2019—so long ago that [Mayor Zohran] Mamdani was still pursuing a rap career. The plan was to build new jails in different boroughs in order to empty out the sprawling jail complex, which for decades has been overcrowded, violent, lacking in adequate medical services and fatal: Forty-eight people died in city jails (most of which are on Rikers Island) or immediately upon release during [Mayor Eric] Adams’ tenure.
“Despite the council vote and the campaign to close the facility, Adams—who won the 2021 mayoral election as a ‘law-and-order’ candidate, during the backlash to Black Lives Matter—proved an obstacle.
“‘When the administration changed, Adams, a former police officer, was not in support of closing Rikers,’ DeAnna Hoskins [Leading with Conviction™ 2016], president and CEO of JustLeadershipUSA, told Filter. ‘He stalled progress. Not a single borough-based facility was built.’
“Hoskins is now hopeful. ‘The fact that Mandami is prioritizing this in his first 100 days is a really good sign,’ she said. She pointed to his appointment of Stanley Richards as DOC commissioner; Richards, formerly incarcerated, is seen as a strong signal that there will be a serious effort to end the Rikers abuses.
Think about all the people experiencing that pain that we haven’t heard about.
“Mamdani, Hoskins said, is paying attention to the pain of New Yorkers. ‘He’s actively working to address the harms entrenched into the walls of Rikers Island.’
“She brought up the horrific story of Kalief Browder, whose case helped galvanize the movement to end cash bail and close Rikers.
“Browder was arrested and sent to Rikers at the age of 16 after he was (wrongly) accused of stealing a backpack. He refused to take a plea deal, maintaining his innocence. He spent roughly three years in the facility, where he was subjected to violence by guards and other detainees. He was placed in solitary confinement for long stretches.
“After his release, Browder became a symbol for the reform movement. But according to his family, he couldn’t get past his experience in the prison complex—he’d pace around his room for hours, likely a trauma response to being forced into solitary. He hung himself in his family’s home at the age of 22.
“‘Here’s this kid, arrested for a book bag. The trauma he acquired, he couldn’t handle,’ Hoskins said. ‘We criminalized him for being poor. That’s one case that got our attention. Think about all the people experiencing that pain that we haven’t heard about.’”
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