Riker’s Island has an extensive history of human rights abuses. In 2022 alone, 18 people died, and the facility has faced intense scrutiny after viral images depicted incarcerated people sitting in their own feces for hours at a time. Activists and community members argue those same practices will be carried over to the new facility.
“In all these years, they’ve done nothing to improve the conditions of Rikers. It’s not Rikers itself…it’s a broken system that’s in Rikers,” said [Karlin] Chan, a community activist.
He added, “When you build this new brick building, we’re gonna have the same abuses. So basically, they get to transfer the problem into newer buildings.” Some, like Chan, believe the jail’s construction will compound the neighborhood’s depleted economy that has suffered through the aftermaths of 9/11, Hurricane Sandy, and, most recently, the pandemic.
As Democracy Now’s Amy Goodman reported on Dec. 5, it’s not just a problem of past leaders, but of current ones.
The protesters mentioned New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who took office in January, has continued to support the jail plan he inherited from Mayor Bill de Blasio, despite Adams vowing to stop it when he was on the campaign trail. This is then-candidate Eric Adams speaking in April of 2021 in Chinatown.
ERIC ADAMS: I know this community well. As a police officer, I was assigned in this community. I know how much they have endured. And so, if we want to stop the thoughtlessness that goes into what this community has experienced with the recent level of hate crimes, let’s stop the institutionalizing of the hate that we’re seeing in government. So I join them today in saying no new jail, no building up a jail in this location. We can do a better job.
Unfortunately, Mayor Adams instead supported the jail plan he inherited when he took office, despite previous public commitment to ending it.
Daily Kos is joining residents and advocates of Chinatown, and other proponents fighting against the Jailscraper, to demand that no new jails be built in New York City.
We acknowledge that jails are inherently anti-Black and promote violence against the LGBTQ+ community, women, immigrants, and low-income people. We call on New York City Mayor Eric Adams to stop the institutionalizing of hate in government and instead invest in harm reduction, violence prevention programs, community care, and crisis management.
