Sign the Petition to Mayor Adams:
Shut Rikers NOW
Conditions at Rikers Island Jail Complex are horrific.
Since Eric Adams became mayor, at least 33 incarcerated people have died in city jails. Federal officials have warned that incarcerated people and corrections staff at Rikers face an “imminent risk of harm on a daily basis.”



UNDER MAYOR ERIC ADAMS conditions at Rikers have gotten worse
At least 33 people have died in the city jail system since Adams became mayor in 2022. But the actual number of deaths is unknown, because under Mayor Adams, the Department of Correction (DOC) has stopped reporting deaths to the public.
“The people incarcerated at Rikers are at a grave risk of immediate harm”
– Federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain
August 10, 2023
RIKERS
Racist, Harmful, Unjust, Costly
90%
of detainees at rikers are Black and LatinO even though these groups represent only about half the city’s population.* Racism is built into the system.
55%+
of those incarcerated have been diagnosed with a mental health condition and have little to no access to meaningful care while locked up.**
85%+
of people incarcerated at Rikers haven’t been convicted: the majority of whom are being held pretrial while considered innocent because, unlike those who have money, they can’t afford bail.***
$507,000
The cost of incarcerating a person for a year in NYC jails. Meanwhile, budgets for the City’s schools and social services are being cut to the bone.****
*United States Census Bureau. “Quick Facts: New York City, New York.” July 1, 2021.; Bruce Western, Jaclyn Davis, Flavien Ganter, and Natalie Smith. “The Cumulative Risk of Jail Incarceration.” PNAS 118, No. 16. (2021). pnas.2023429118; Reuven Blau.“Racial Gap in City Jails Has Only Gotten Worse, John Jay Study Finds.” The City. March 2, 2023.
**Dr. Noe Romo. “Breaking cycles of violence at Rikers Island.” AMNY. September 21, 2024.
***As of November 2022, more than 84 percent of the people detained on Rikers Island were there pretrial. Michael Rempel. Decarceration in the Bail Reform Era: New York City’s Changing Jail Population Since 2019. John Jay College, Data Collaborative for Justice. December 2022.
****New York City Comptroller. “Longer Court Case Processing Times Inflate NYC’s Jail Population & Cost Taxpayers Nearly $1 Billion Annually, Comptroller Lander’s Report Reveals.” July 16,2024.
Sahalie Donaldson. “What’s Up with the New York City Schools Budget This Year?” City & State New York. May 4, 2023; Celina Su. “Eric Adams Is Trying to Push More Austerity on New Yorkers Through His Executive Budget.” Jacobin. May 5, 2023.
MAYOR ADAMS WANTS RIKERS TO STAY OPEN
In 2017, city officials finally agreed with community demands to shut down Rikers. In 2019, the city adopted a plan to close Rikers, which requires a reduction in the city jail population. Despite pledging his support when he campaigned, Mayor Adams has pushed back on the 2019 plan and worked to lock up more Black, brown, and low-income people.
We cannot allow Mayor Adam to abandon the City’s commitment to close Rikers.

SHUT RIKERS NOW
The appalling problems at Rikers Island aren’t new – they are all too familiar and dramatically underscore that the city needs alternatives to jail. With an unrelenting crisis at Rikers marked by a rapidly rising death toll, we need urgent action to save lives.

CUT
CUT the number of people held on Rikers and other city jails – and cut the budgets used for caging people.

SHUT
SHUT down the Rikers Island jail complex.

Invest
INVEST in real community safety: housing, health care, education, and jobs
#ShutRikers #CutShutInvestNY