SAVE THE DATE for a prayer service and panel about closing Rikers on International Human Rights Day, in partnership with interfaith leaders! #Rikers #CloseRikers #GetRikersClosed #HumanRightsDay

"My grandkids, their feet will never touch this place...One stain out of New York." - Freedom Agenda Member Lezandre Khadu, whose son Stephan died on VCBC, aka The Boat, on seeing it leave NYC's shores forever Monday #CloseRikers www.bxtimes.com/notorious-ri...

"We deserve an elected official who will protect their constituents by getting rid of a system that works to isolate them from society and destroy their basic human rights." - Stephanie Frias at BronxConnect #CloseRikers queenseagle.com/all/2025/10/...

"[The ATI] model succeeds precisely because it treats underlying trauma and instability, directly contrasting with the failure of mass incarceration." - Jason Rodriguez of @lac_news #CloseRikers citylimits.org/opinion-the-...

Please read this powerful piece in the Queens Daily Eagle about the closing of the horrific jail barge The Boat. Lezandre Khadu shares her grief over the death of her son Stephan who died at The Boat. T/y Jacob Kaye for this article. @freedomagendany.bsky.social #CloseRikers

"It’s like a hatchet coming out of my heart. But the wound is still there." - Our member Lezandre Khadu, whose son Stephan died at the Vernon C. Bain Center, aka The Boat, on how our organizing got it permanently closed #CloseRikers queenseagle.com/all/2025/10/...

ICYMI: OP-ED by our Co-Director Darren Mack & Melissa Mark-Viverito "How can we tell which candidates are serious about safety, and which ones care more about stoking our fears than investing in what works?" bit.ly/CloseRikersM... #CloseRikers #NY1Debate #NYC #Election2025

The first televised debate for NYC’s next Mayor is tonight! We have looked at candidates’ positions on an issue at the core of our city’s values - #Rikers. We recently interviewed one “candidate” whose position on Rikers is crystal clear. #CloseRikers youtu.be/qRVbVkrUE7A

The general election for NYC’s next Mayor is just weeks away! To help sort through candidates’ positions, the Campaign to Close Rikers has put together this handy Voter Guide: campaigntocloserikers.org/voter-guide #CloseRikers #Election2025 #VoterGuide #KnowYourRights

As New York City general elections approach and candidates articulate their plans in regard to Rikers Island, the Campaign to #CloseRikers issued this statement. 🗳️ Stay tuned for our Voter Guide coming next week. www.campaigntocloserikers.org/statements-r...

1/ WE DID IT! Through the continued organizing of from impacted people and allies, the Vernon C. Bain Center aka “The Boat,” the jail barge is being sold for scrap and removed permanently from our city. gothamist.com/news/nycs-fl... #CloseRikers

Listen to our Community Organizer Edwin Santana and Co-Director Sarita Daftary discuss closing Rikers and our vision for collective empowerment on the podcast War Cry for Our Children! Here's a clip, and listen to the episode here: bit.ly/WarCryEdwin

"I felt so helpless trying to advocate for my son to people who didn’t seem to care if he lived or died. Ultimately, [DOC] carelessness killed him, and the only thing worse than knowing that is that [Rikers] continues to kill more people." - Freedom Agenda Member Lezandre Khadu #CloseRikers

Join us on October 9th as we celebrate 5 years of advocacy, organizing, and community power! Let's celebrate how far we've come and raise funds we need to go even further. wl.donorperfect.net/weblink/webl...

"[This decision] affirms what community advocates have been saying for years: Rikers is a place of violence and human suffering, and allowing ICE to prey on people there only deepens the harm." - Freedom Agenda Co-Director @iamdarrenmack.bsky.social #CloseRikers www.amny.com/police-fire/...

MUST READ from @nickpinto about the lack of urgency to #CloseRikers. Love the work that @sandynurse.bsky.social & @nycprogressives.bsky.social are doing and the organizing done by impacted leaders at orgs like @freedomagendany.bsky.social Hope @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social makes this a priority.

STATEMENT from our Co-Director Darren Mack @iamdarrenmack.bsky.social after the twelfth tragic loss of life in DOC custody this year. #CloseRikers #Decarcerate #HumanRights

Following their weeklong advocacy events, @freedomagendany.bsky.social has released an updated publication, Countdown to Closing Rikers Policy Brief. with ‘key next steps’ for New York City to follow through on the legal and moral obligation to close Rikers, by 2027

August 31 marks two years until the legal deadline to #CloseRikers. Erasing this stain on our City will bring joy, relief, and hope to so many New Yorkers. ✴️Please share this video to tell Mayor Adams and our next administration we need action NOW to #GetRikersClosed www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTrg...

Last night on NY1 with @errollouis.bsky.social our Co-Director Darren Mack spoke out about the human rights crisis at #Rikers and the urgent need to #CloseRikers once and for all. People are suffering and dying in a system that must be dismantled. The time to act is now. ny1.com/nyc/all-boro...

Join us TODAY at 12:30PM for a Phone Zap to Free Our People, as part of our week of action marking two years from the legally mandated deadline to #CloseRikers by August 31, 2027. bit.ly/closerikers-827

STATEMENT from our Co-Director @iamdarrenmack.bsky.social after the tenth tragic loss of life in DOC custody this year. #CloseRikers #Decarcerate #HumanRights

Join us tomorrow, and the rest of this month, to honor David Ruggles and his work for freedom, as we continue to fight to #CloseRikers

“Public safety is not just about policing, enforcement, incarceration...The other side of public safety is when you provide people with opportunity to rebuild their lives, when you connect them.” - Stanley Richards @thefortunesociety.bsky.social #JISH #CloseRikers citylimits.org/funding-boos...

📣JOIN US AT 11AM with faith partners from the Campaign to #CloseRikers to learn about the historic work of David Ruggles in opposition to Richard Riker's Kidnapping Club, and his organization, the New York Committee of Vigilance! bit.ly/closerikers-814

Our member Tamara Carter, whose son Brandon Rodriguez died at Rikers: "[DOC] were notified almost immediately that we wanted his things by my lawyer...his items were destroyed. When I had the chance to help [with] this bill, I was absolutely going for it." #CloseRikers

Darren Mack & Damon Gilbert on an underused way to reduce the # of ppl at Rikers: "The 6A early release program...allows individuals sentenced to less than a year to serve the remainder of their time at home, supported by re-entry programs." #CloseRikers www.nydailynews.com/2025/08/04/b...

NYC is finally starting design meetings for the Manhattan borough-based jail next Thursday, July 31. With more than 40 lives lost under the Adams administration, the city needs to move forward urgently on the plan to close Rikers. Anything else is a cynical delay. #CloseRikers

STATEMENT from Freedom Agenda Co-Director Darren Mack on the death today at EMTC on Rikers Island

“Opening the Bellevue units has to be a priority,” Independent Rikers Commission Executive Director Zachary Katznelson said. “These are incredibly ill people who, right now, aren’t getting the care they need at anywhere near the rate that they need.” #CloseRikers

We had an amazing conversation last night with community members in Far Rockaway about the horrific impacts Rikers has had on our communities, why it needs to close, & why this matters to every NYer, hosted by Queens Community Justice Center! #CloseRikers #Decarcerate #Defend #Divest #Redistribute

📢 On 6/30 NYC adopted a budget for the next fiscal year. We had many important wins! With the support of City Council, we achieved new investments in supportive housing, expansion to community safety programs, & restoration of proposed cuts to ATI & reentry programs. #CloseRikers

Here’s what some of our members have to say after New York City Council's momentous passage of Intro 423, sponsored by @carlinarivera.bsky.social... #CloseRikers

Today the Council passed Int. 423-2024 to require oversight and transparency when someone dies in DOC custody. 41 people have died in city jails since 2022. Amid continued violence and neglect, we are demanding accountability and action. New Yorkers deserve nothing less.

📣Tell Mayor Adams - Renewable Rikers can’t wait! 🔗bit.ly/close-rikers-now An analysis of grievances submitted by people in NYC jails from 2017-2023 shows 277 complaints about sewage, and 380 complaints about flooding.

STATEMENT from our Co-Director Darren Mack on the death of Christian Collado in DOC custody today #CloseRikers

📣Tell Mayor Adams - Renewable Rikers can’t wait! 🔗bit.ly/close-rikers-now An analysis of grievances submitted by people in NYC jails from 2017-2023 shows 277 complaints about sewage, and 380 complaints about flooding.

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On 7/3 @nypdpc.bsky.social released a *preliminary* decision to FLIP the guilty verdict against Lt. Rivera for killing #AllanFeliz- after her own Deputy Commish said FIRE HIM. Tell Tisch and Mayor Adams this is unacceptable. Email them now! action.justicecommittee.org/a/fire-rivera

📣Tell Mayor Adams - Renewable Rikers can’t wait! 🔗bit.ly/close-rikers-now An analysis of grievances submitted by people in NYC jails from 2017-2023 shows 277 complaints about sewage, and 380 complaints about flooding.

📣Tell Mayor Adams - Renewable Rikers can’t wait! 🔗bit.ly/close-rikers-now An analysis of grievances submitted by people in NYC jails from 2017-2023 shows 277 complaints about sewage, and 380 complaints about flooding.

Social worker Justyna Rzewinski saw people with mental illness “deadlocked” in their cells for months without sunlight, human contact — or medication.

📣STATEMENT from the Campaign to Close Rikers on the handshake agreement on #FY2026Budget: www.campaigntocloserikers.org/statements-r...

1/ An analysis of grievances submitted by people in NYC jails from 2017-2023 shows 277 complaints about sewage, and 380 complaints about flooding. #CloseRikers #RenewableRikers

"Any argument that New Yorkers can’t afford these investments — even with looming federal cuts — collapses under the weight of a $2.8 billion annual Rikers budget. This is about the political will..." - Judge Lippman www.nydailynews.com/2025/06/27/r...

“This continued misuse of involuntary lock-ins, particularly in mental observation units, reflects a serious failure in oversight and a violation of basic human rights.” - @justynaspeaksup.bsky.social #CloseRikers www.nydailynews.com/2025/06/23/m...

"Voters should be skeptical of any candidate who won’t fully commit to these proven solutions, but will rail against 'recidivism' and pledge to arrest more people who have spiraled into crisis," writes @mmviverito.bsky.social & @freedomagendany.bsky.social's Darren Mack. bit.ly/3G9ZY6O

Important words. Please read them. We need to #CloseRikers now. And #RenewableRikers is key to a just transition away from fossil fuels for NYC.

"How can we tell which candidates are serious about safety, and which ones care more about stoking our fears than investing in what works?" - Our Co-Director @iamdarrenmack.bsky.social & former Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito #CloseRikers citylimits.org/opinion-nyc-...

We visited Council Members all over North Bronx and Southeast Queens yesterday to talk about the changes we need in this year’s budget to shrink the jail population, increase community safety, and #CloseRikers.