WEEK OF ACTION TO SHUTDOWN RIKERS & FREE THEM ALL

#EmptyTheCages #ShutdownRikers #NoNewJails

What’s Happening on Rikers?        1

Key Talking Points        2

What Can You Do?        2

Graphics        5

Sample Tweets:        5

Phone Zap        5

PROSECUTORS        5

MAYOR        7

GOVERNOR        7

What’s Happening on Rikers?

TW: suicide, self-harm, state violence

In 2021 alone, there have been 10 deaths inside Rikers. This is an extraordinary and unprecedented level of violence in a penal colony that is, on a normal day, already uninhabitable.  Javier Velasco, Brandon Rodriguez, Thomas Braunson III, Esias Johnson, and Wilson Diaz-Guzman are just five of the people whose blood is on the hands of Mayor Bill de Blasio, DOC Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi, Marcos Gonzalez Soler, director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, the City Council, and Speaker Corey Johnson. Reports from inside suggest a lack of basic hygiene, meals, and recreation -- all this, while the NYPD continue to tout panic over crime and arrest New Yorkers indiscriminately. Rikers’ chief medical officer claims this is a “worsening emergency” facilitated by the “collapse of basic jail operations.”

MAKE NO MISTAKE, this crisis is NOT NEW. 2020 saw the deaths of several people inside NYC jails due to mismanaged COVID-19 conditions. But while the emergency is not new, it is a red flag for what awaits the over 4000 people who remain inside cages in NYC.  

The city plans to solve this crisis with more cops, more corrections officers, and more cages. The city claims it is “closing Rikers” while people die, and their families are left waiting. Incarcerated people and their loved ones know best how disastrous jail conditions have been for decades. And yet, reformists plug away on every solution but the obvious ones: release people now, house people, empty the cages.

The city is only committing to further incarceration, while the DOC has never been capable of maintaining order inside the penal colony. We need to #emptythecages and #shutdownRikers without new jails. #AbolitionNow. This is not a staffing crisis, it is a prison crisis.

Remember: the majority of people held in Rikers -- disproportionately Black, poor, and trans New Yorkers -- are held pre-trial. They have not been convicted of a crime, and yet they face every day in this hellhole.

Key Talking Points

  • The city has lied repeatedly and claimed to be closing Rikers. But Rikers is as open and violent as ever. We must shut it down and echo those demanding abolition, unapologetically beginning with immediate releases.

  • Rikers must be emptied, and care immediately provided to those who remain inside.        Instead of hiring corrections officers, cops, and building more jails, the city should direct funding towards care inside jails and support for those coming home.
  • Although the jail population dropped during COVID-19, it is now back to levels higher than even pre-pandemic. Decarceration must include commitments from courts and cops to incarcerate fewer people.

What Can You Do?

Tuesday, September 14

Attend the Board of Corrections meeting online on Tuesday, September 14. Link.

https://bit.ly/BOCSEPT14

YOU can provide public comment during the meeting demanding the BOC leverage their power to guarantee releases and to shut down Rikers.  

  • Learn more about the hearing here.
  • Sign up to attend and speak here.

In order to submit comments, you must attend the meeting and sign up to speak at the end of the meeting on a “general topic.”

Here is a sample script to speak at the meeting:


“To the Board of Corrections, I am attending this meeting to voice my support for immediate decarceration inside NYC jails, starting with Rikers. The city’s so-called leaders must commit to emptying the cages, and bring numbers down to below 4000, immediately with a transparent and public plan to shutdown Rikers -- not by 2027 but immediately. The city must commit to releasing people caged on Rikers, fewer arrests, ending broken windows policing, improving conditions inside, and providing holistic non carceral re-entry support. The only solution is releases and care for those inside, not more COs, who have proven unable to manage violence inside Rikers; not more cages, which will not prevent the violence that is characteristic of NYC jails; and not more cops, who send more people inside every day. As the Board of Corrections, the deaths of those inside is on your hands as much as anyone else. You must demand immediate releases in the thousands.”

Wednesday, September 15.

Attend the City Council meeting on the state of city jails on LINK.

Meeting is now virtual at 10am at https://council.nyc.gov/live (virtual room 2).

Livestream: https://livestream.com/nyccouncil/events/9081844

YOU can provide verbal testimony during the hearing to urge the City Council to leverage their power to guarantee releases and to shut down Rikers.  If you cannot testify over zoom, you can submit written testimony at https://council.nyc.gov/testify up to 72 hours after the meeting has ended.

Here is a sample script to speak at the meeting:


“To the City Council Committee on Criminal Justice, I am attending this meeting to voice my support for immediate decarceration inside NYC jails, starting with Rikers. The city’s so-called leaders must commit to emptying the cages, immediately with a transparent and public plan to shutdown Rikers -- not by 2027 but immediately. You must take back your lie that Rikers is closing and take real action to radically decarcerate. 6,000 people are in deadly conditions right now. The city must commit to releasing people caged on Rikers, fewer arrests, ending broken windows policing, improving conditions inside, and providing holistic non carceral re-entry support. The only solution is releases and care for those inside, not more COs, who have proven unable to manage violence inside Rikers; not more cages, which will not prevent the violence that is characteristic of NYC jails; and not more cops, who send more people inside every day. As the City Council, the deaths of those inside is on your hands as much as anyone else. You must ensure immediate releases in the thousands.”

Thursday, September 16

Target prosecutors, Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Governor Kathy Hochul to demand they #EmptyTheCages #FreeThemAll #ShutDownRikers.

Zap script & contacts below.

Friday, September 17

Learn about building a #cagefreenyc and download the one-pager.

Graphics

Download graphics for sharing on socials here (and view image descriptions here).

Sample Tweets:

  1. It should be shocking, disgusting, and shameful for @NYCMayorsOffice @BilldeBlasio @RacialJusticeNY @CrimJusticeNYC @VinSchiraldi and for everyone who believes in abolition to be witness to this level of negligence and abandonment of human life inside jails.
  2. The city is only committing to further incarceration, while the DOC has never been capable of maintaining order inside the penal colony. We need to #emptythecages and #shutdownRikers without new jails. #AbolitionNow. @BilldeBlasio 
  3. Despite Rikers being a chamber of death,  New York City plans to solve this crisis with more cops, more corrections officers, and more cages. Will the city council commit to freeing them all, not opening MORE locations on Rikers? @VinSchiraldi

  1. While New York City courts commercialization with the #VMAs and #NYFW, residents, our loved ones, are dying inside Rikers due to lack of hygiene, meals, and recreation. We need to #freethemall and #ShutdownRikers without new jails. @bradlander @coreyjohnson @NYCSpeakerCoJo

  1. We don’t need more COs, we need a historic level of decarceration. Where are your commitments? @ManhattanDA @BronxDAClark & @VinSchiraldi?

Phone Zap

PROSECUTORS

Manhattan County District Cy Vance

Email: Vancec@dany.nyc.gov

Social: @ManhattanDA

Phone: (212) 335-9000

Fax: 212-335-9598

Queens County District                                

Melinda Katz                                                

Email: katz@queensda.org                                

Social: @MelindaKatz                                        

Phone (718) 286-6300                                

Alternate Phone #:  (718)286 6000                                         

Fax: 718-286-6350                                        

Brooklyn County District

Eric Gonzalez                                                

Email: Gonzaleze@brooklynda.org                        

Social: @BrooklynDA                                        

Phone: (718) 250-2202

Alternate Phone #: 718-250-2340                        

Fax: 718-802-3522        

Staten Island District        

Michael McMahon        

Email: michael.mcmahon@rcda.nyc.gov

Social: @StatenIslandDA        

Phone: (718) 556-7050        

Fax: 718-556-7054

Bronx County District

Darcel D. Clark

Email: Clarkda@bronxda.nyc.gov

Social: @BronxDAClark

Phone: (718) 590-2000

Fax: 718-590-2198                

Phone/Email Script for DAs: My name is _____ and I am a resident of NYC [Borough]. I am calling because of the extraordinary and unprecedented levels of violence on Rikers Island. 10 people have died there this year alone, most of them were jailed pretrial. All in the midst of an already deadly pandemic. The only way to end the violence is to decarcerate and close Rikers immediately. I respectfully request that your office support the release of everyone in NYC jails, decline to bring charges on new cases, consent to the release of people pretrial, and publicly support the closure of Rikers Island jail.

Sample tweet for DAs: As your constituent [DA social media handle], I'm demanding you that you RELEASE ppl from NYC jails, STOP ALL PROSECUTIONS, and publicly support shutting down Rikers. A jail sentence is a death sentence. #EmptyTheCages #ShutDownRikers

MAYOR

Mayor Bill De Blasio

Email: bdeblasio@cityhall.nyc.gov or this form https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/mayor-contact.page

Social: @NYCMayor and @billdeblasio

Fax: (212) 406-3587

Phone/Email Scripts for BDB: My name is _____ and I am a resident of NYC. I am calling because of the extraordinary and unprecedented levels of violence on Rikers Island. Due to your administration’s neglect, 10 people have died there this year alone and thousands more are barely surviving egregious conditions. All in the midst of an already deadly pandemic. The only way to end the violence is to decarcerate and close Rikers immediately. I am calling to demand that you immediately take action to release everyone currently caged on Rikers and across city jails, and that you shut down Rikers immediately without building more jails.

Sample tweet: You have blood on your hands @NYCMayor. You must take immediate action to release people from NYC jails and shut down Rikers.  #EmptyTheCages #ShutDownRikers

GOVERNOR

Governor Kathy Hochul

Email: https://www.governor.ny.gov/content/governor-contact-form

Social: @GovKathyHochul

Phone: 1-518-474-8390

Fax: 1-518-474-1513

Phone/Email Script: My name is _____ and I am a resident of New York. I am calling because of the extraordinary and unprecedented levels of violence at Rikers Island jail in New York City. 10 people have died there this year alone and thousands more are barely surviving egregious conditions. All in the midst of an already deadly pandemic. The Governor herself has acknowledged the inhumane conditions and has committed to signing the Less Is More legislation. I am calling to urge her to do more and quickly: she has the power to release people on parole violations with the stroke of a pen. She can also urge NYC officials to release pretrial and city sentenced people and to shut down Rikers jail immediately. I am respectfully requesting her to act now to save lives.

Sample tweet: You can act now to free people from deadly NYC jails @GovKathyHochul! Release all ppl held on parole violations & urge NYC officials to free them all & shut down Rikers #EmptyTheCages #ShutDownRikers