Could Rikers Island Close?

Activists, politicians and formerly incarcerated people gathered at City Hall on the morning of June 2 for a rally to close Rikers Island.

They called on the City Council’s Committee for Criminal Justice and Mayor Zohran Mamdani to reduce funding to the Department of Corrections. They want the committee’s upcoming budget to support closing Rikers Island.

The activists cited violence and unsafe living conditions as reasons the facility should close. Four people incarcerated at Rikers Island have died since the beginning of the year. 

District 22 City Council member Tiffany Cabán spoke at the rally. She told attendees that the more people fight against Rikers, the closer they are to ending the human rights crisis inside the prison. 

“Simply stepping foot on Rikers Island is a potential death sentence,” Cabán said. “Stepping foot on Rikers Island means that you will undoubtedly be exposed to what is defined by human rights organizations around the world as torture. Those are our neighbors. Those are people who overwhelmingly are not having their needs met.” 

Activists hope the money from the Department of Corrections will be reallocated to community investments like housing programs, financial literacy groups and alternatives to incarceration. 

Vidal Guzman, the executive director of liberation and decarceration organization America on Trial, spoke at the event. He was formerly incarcerated at Rikers Island as a teenager after being tried as an adult. He said the money will help improve the lives of New Yorkers affected by limited resources. 

“That money needs to trickle down to our community, and fully trickle down, because our community's dying without these investments,” Guzman said.