Zohran Mamdani Announces Closure Of A Rikers Island Facility
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Announces Permanent Closure Of A Rikers Island Facility
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the permanent closure of a facility on Rikers Island on Monday, as the city prepares for the complete closure of the notorious jail complex, arguably known best for its public history connected to violence, gross injustice, and egregious human rights violations largely committed against Black and Latino prisoners.
According to ABC News, City and jail officials at Rikers have confirmed that the North Infirmary Command is permanently closed. In his announcement, Mamdani referenced the prison’s dark history, describing the closure as a “milestone” that “brings us closer to ending that chapter.”
“We are replacing a system built around neglect with one centered on rehabilitation and accountability because public safety and human dignity are not competing values,” he said.
In 2010, Kalief Browder, a resident of the Bronx, New York, was arrested at the age of 16 on charges of robbery, grand larceny and assault after being accused of stealing a backpack. He was held at Rikers Island for three years, including 400 days in solitary confinement, and forced to endure beatings and other abuses. Two years after his release, Browder hanged himself in his parents’ home.
Before that, Korey Wise, the oldest of the falsely accused teenagers known as the Central Park Five — now the Exonerated Five — and the only one tried as an adult, spent nearly 14 years at Rikers, where he also suffered physical abuse and spent large amounts of time in solitary confinement.
These are just a couple of examples of Rikers Island’s storied history, which has long made it a target of civil rights activists and human rights advocates.
As for the North Infirmary Command section of the facility, it “most recently housed 223 people with acute medical needs who required hospital-level care,” ABC reported, but Mamdani’s administration was able to see it closed after a new therapeutic housing unit, Bellevue Hospital in Kips Bay, was created for detainees with complicated medical needs.
“Bellevue is designed intentionally by color and scheme and fabric to be a more therapeutic and supportive place,” Dr. Patsy Yang, senior VP of correctional health services at NYC Health + Hospitals, told ABC.
New York City is required by law to close the entire Rikers Island jail complex in August 2027. Mamdani said he’s committed to closing Rikers, but in April, he didn’t seem too sure about the deadline, telling reporters it was “practically impossible to fulfill, because we’ve seen years of a flouting of not just recommendations, but requirements, frankly.”
“It is going to take us quite a bit of time to ensure that we can put our city back on the path,” he said.
Still, better late than never, and according to Mamdani’s administration, the closure of the prison is just the first step toward a more humane experience for detainees under the city’s care.
“We’re gonna build facilities centered on humanity and dignity of those who come to us,” Department of Corrections Commissioner Stanley Richards said in a statement. “We’re going to operate with dignity and humanity centered in every decision we make, every strategy we deploy, every bit of our work.”
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NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Announces Permanent Closure Of A Rikers Island Facility was originally published on newsone.com
