@freedomagendany.bsky.social
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
#Rikers #CloseRikers #GetRikersClosed #HumanRightsDay
November 12, 2025 at 2:10 PM
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
#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...
‘It all ends today’: notorious Rikers jail barge removed from Hunts Point – Bronx Times
As of Nov. 3, the Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center in Hunts Point — better known as the Rikers Island jail barge — is gone for good.
www.bxtimes.com
November 6, 2025 at 4:41 PM
"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/...
Opinion: Why New York needs to close Rikers once and for all — Queens Daily Eagle
“With the mayoral elections coming up, it's important that we seek out representatives who will do right by their constituents and abolish Rikers once and for all. “
queenseagle.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:10 PM
"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-...
@lac_news
#CloseRikers
citylimits.org/opinion-the-...
Opinion: The Next Mayor's Test is Closing Rikers— Public Safety Demands It - City Limits
"The next mayor’s commitment to public safety shouldn’t be measured by how many people they jail, but by how they prevent harm before it happens, and reduce incarceration as a result."
citylimits.org
October 31, 2025 at 2:01 PM
"[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-...
@lac_news
#CloseRikers
citylimits.org/opinion-the-...
Reposted
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/...
City to send notorious jail barge to Louisiana in the coming days — Queens Daily Eagle
The notorious floating jail complex off Rikers Island known as “The Boat” is being moved south to be turned into scrap metal.
queenseagle.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:32 PM
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/...
City to send notorious jail barge to Louisiana in the coming days — Queens Daily Eagle
The notorious floating jail complex off Rikers Island known as “The Boat” is being moved south to be turned into scrap metal.
queenseagle.com
October 30, 2025 at 3:02 PM
"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
"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
Opinion: NYC Needs a Mayor Who is Serious About Safety - City Limits
"We need a mayor who knows that in a city committed to seeing all of us thrive, there is no place for Rikers Island."
bit.ly
October 23, 2025 at 1:35 PM
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
"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 Grim Reaper says: "Keep Rikers Open!"
YouTube video by Freedom Agenda
youtu.be
October 16, 2025 at 4:02 PM
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
campaigntocloserikers.org/voter-guide
#CloseRikers #Election2025 #VoterGuide #KnowYourRights
October 14, 2025 at 5:47 PM
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
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...
🗳️ Stay tuned for our Voter Guide coming next week.
www.campaigntocloserikers.org/statements-r...
October 8, 2025 at 8:49 PM
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...
🗳️ 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
October 1, 2025 at 3:37 PM
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
Here's a clip, and listen to the episode here: bit.ly/WarCryEdwin
September 23, 2025 at 6:42 PM
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
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
Two suicides, three overdoses in 2025 Rikers death toll so far: Medical Examiner
Two suicides, three overdoses in 2025 Rikers death toll so far: Medical Examiner
Two more people held in city jails died by suicide in 2025 and three more fatally overdosed on contraband narcotics, the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner confirmed Monday. The coroner…
buff.ly
September 23, 2025 at 1:31 PM
"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...
September 15, 2025 at 6:48 PM
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/...
#CloseRikers
www.amny.com/police-fire/...
ICE office on Rikers Island remains closed, for now, after state court strikes down Mayor Adams’ executive order | amNewYork
Elected officials and criminal justice advocates have welcomed a New York State Supreme Court ruling on Monday that struck down an executive order issued by
www.amny.com
September 10, 2025 at 2:18 PM
"[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/...
#CloseRikers
www.amny.com/police-fire/...
Reposted
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.
Three people died on Rikers Island in the last two weeks. Twelve people have died there so far this year. Forty-five since Eric Adams took office.
Does anyone with any power care to stop this?
Do New Yorkers care to make them?
hellgatenyc.com/rikers-death...
Does anyone with any power care to stop this?
Do New Yorkers care to make them?
hellgatenyc.com/rikers-death...
New Yorkers Keep Dying on Rikers Island. Does Anyone Actually Care?
Will public officials ever stop the deaths in City jails? Will New Yorkers ever make them?
hellgatenyc.com
September 8, 2025 at 9:10 PM
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
September 4, 2025 at 1:10 PM
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
Reposted
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
@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
September 3, 2025 at 1:34 PM
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
@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...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTrg...
When Rikers is Finally Closed ...
YouTube video by Freedom Agenda
www.youtube.com
August 29, 2025 at 10:40 AM
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...
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...
Advocates condemn conditions on Rikers Island
The city is legally mandated to close the troubled jail complex by 2027.
ny1.com
August 28, 2025 at 3:35 PM
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
August 27, 2025 at 1:41 PM
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
#CloseRikers #Decarcerate #HumanRights
August 23, 2025 at 9:39 PM
STATEMENT from our Co-Director @iamdarrenmack.bsky.social after the tenth tragic loss of life in DOC custody this year.
#CloseRikers #Decarcerate #HumanRights
#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
📣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
August 20, 2025 at 5:51 PM
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...
Funding Boost Could Fulfill City's Pledge to Expand Housing for New Yorkers Who Cycle Between Shelter and Jail - City Limits
The city's latest budget includes funds to grow the number of apartments in the Justice-Involved Supportive Housing program (JISH) from 120 to 500. That expansion was among the commitments the city ma...
citylimits.org
August 14, 2025 at 7:33 PM
“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
August 14, 2025 at 2:24 PM
📣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