Rikers Island Closing By 2026
On Thursday, October 17 the New York Metropolis Council voted to shut Rikers Island, the notorious jail positioned on an island within the East River between Queens and the Bronx. The closing was permitted with a 36-13 vote.
Rikers, New York Metropolis’s primary jail advanced, will shut by 2026 for smaller prisons based mostly in every borough. NPR experiences the smaller prisons can be positioned nearer to courthouses in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens.
“What we’re doing as we speak will reshape town for generations to come back and influence the lives of each New Yorker,” mentioned Corey Johnson, the Metropolis Council speaker on Thursday. “For many years, our metropolis was unfair to those that grew to become concerned within the justice system, and the overwhelmingly majority who have been caught up have been Black and brown males.”
The notorious jail has a controversial popularity for abuse, violence and inmate neglect, drawing years of media scrutiny.
One of many extra well-known instances based mostly in Rikers Island was the Kalief Browder case. Browder dedicated suicide on June 6, 2015 by hanging at his mom’s residence. The Bronx native was held in jail for 3 years with out being charged for against the law.
On Could 15, 2010, Browder was apprehended by officers after Roberto Bautista claimed “two male blacks” stole his brother’s e-book bag carrying a digital camera, a bank card, $700 in money and an iPod two weeks in the past. Bautista recognized Browder because the theft from the again of the police patrol automotive, regardless of police not discovering a backpack on Browder.
Not even 24 hours after his arrest, Browder was charged with theft, grand larceny, and assault. was denied as a result of Browder was nonetheless serving probation from a earlier case. The Bronx Neighborhood Faculty graduate was taken to Rikers Island to await trial.
He was in solitary confinement for 2 years.
Browder’s supporters declare his demise was the results of the psychological, bodily and sexual abuse he endured in jail.
Analysis by Mom Jones journal in Could 2013 named Rikers as one of many ten worst correctional services in the USA.
