FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, July 17, 2024
Contact: Yonah Zeitz, yonah@katalcenter.org • 347-201-2769
Follow on Twitter/X @KatalCenter • #ShutRikers #CutShutInvestNY
Under Mayor Adams, Crisis and Mismanagement Worsen at City Jails as Another Person Dies in Custody
With at Least 32 People Dead and Violence out of Control Under Adams, Calls Grow for a Federal Receiver to Intervene
Statement by the Katal Center
New York, NY: On Sunday, July 14, another person died after being in the custody of the New York City Department of Correction (DOC). Charizma Jones, 23 years old, was the fourth person to die in DOC custody or shortly after being released this year – and at least the 32nd person to have died since Mayor Eric Adams took office. While in custody, Ms. Jones was repeatedly denied medical attention by staff at Rikers following a medical emergency.
Ms. Jones’s death comes just days after a hearing about Rikers when U.S. District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain said that “the current risk of harm in the jails is as alarming as it is unacceptable.” Meanwhile, impacted people, community groups, and elected officials continue to demand that the court appoint a federal receiver to improve conditions and save lives until the notorious Rikers Island jail complex is shut down once and for all.
Statement from Yonah Zeitz, advocacy director for the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice: “It is heartbreaking that yet another person has passed away in our city’s correctional system. We send our deepest condolences to Ms. Jones’s family and loved ones.
Our members, many of whom have been detained at Rikers or have loved ones at Rikers, are feeling immense pain and frustration from the utter mismanagement, dysfunction, and horrors on Rikers Island. Instead of working to address the atrocious problems on Rikers and shut it down, Mayor Adams has done everything in his power to keep Rikers open. He has worked to increase the population through regressive policing and by slashing the budgets of alternatives to incarceration programs – the exact programs that could have prevented Charizma Jones from being on Rikers to begin with.
Every week, news continues to break about the horrors unfolding at Rikers. The disregard and neglect of incarcerated people’s health is reprehensible. The situation is untenable and cannot continue like this – or more people will suffer harm and die.
Rikers must be shut down. Until that happens, we demand immediate action to save lives. We urge the New York City Council to swiftly pass Resolution 183, which calls for a federal receiver to improve conditions until Rikers is closed. The council can take this concrete step to help protect incarcerated people and staff at Rikers and hold Mayor Adams accountable for the crisis in city jails under his watch.”
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