Decades of corruption and mismanagement have proven that New York City is unable to improve the deadly human rights crisis manufactured by the Department of Correction. Since Mayor Adams took office, 31 detained people have died on Rikers because they did not receive adequate or timely medical treatment. Rikers Island is entitled to responsible leadership.
In order to save lives today and ensure closure by 2027, the Federal Court must appoint a non-partisan “receiver” to override the longstanding dysfunction ripping Rikers Island. A receiver is shielded from undue political influence. Once sustainable achievements are made, the receiver returns power to the City. City rules and long-abused policies can immediately be overturned by a federal receiver, who can make sweeping fixes without the red tape and political opposition.
Read the Press ReleaseThe Department Of Correction Plan on Rikers is Inadequate, Recycled, and Unworkable. Here's why:
Our REsponseReceivership is a step towards ensuring successful reforms and the closing of Rikers Island by or before 2027.
For more information about the #CLOSERikers campaign:
#CloseRikersEmail your City council representative demanding receivership.
Contact Your Council MemberPlease submit any anonymous information or tips about the unfolding human rights crisis on Rikers Island using the form below or you can email us at tips@rikersisland.org.
Receivers are given broad and expansive powers to solve complex problems in crisis without political interference.
Download PDFA receiver is necessary to change internal policies that have enabled a decades-long culture of violence and neglect.
Download PDFThe City is not compliant with any of the Federal Monitor’s 15 categories for necessary improvement.
Download PDFThe Adams Administration has demonstrated that they are unfit to lead the jail.
Download PDFReceivership has proven to be a successful way to fix jails across the country.
Download PDFThe tools and resources a Receiver will have that are missing from a City-led plan.
Download PDFThe City
An investigation uncovered that during COVID, when visitors were not allowed onto Rikers Island, there were more than double the amount of drugs recovered than during that same time period between 2018-2019. The only logical conclusion is that Correction Officers are the ones smuggling drugs onto the Island.
New York Times
Elijah Muhammad, the 10th person to die on Rikers Island this year, died in his cell after DOC staff ignored obvious signs of drug overdose. They did not "discover" his body until it was stiff from rigor mortis. Prior to his overdose and death, he had been held in a tiny shower stall in isolation for over 30 hours.
NBC New York
Despite DOC claiming to have eliminated solitary confinement, an investigation uncovered that DOC was using small, caged shower stalls as "de-escalation cells", keeping detainees inside alone for hours and/or days at a time. One of those people died soon after release.
NY Daily News
A detainee choking on an orange died at the feet of a Correction Officer while other detainees tried unsuccessfully to save his life, and begged for the Officer's help. The Officer refused to help the man because although DOC assigned him to an "inmate-facing post", he was not allowed to have any contact with detainees.
NY Daily News
A federal judge held DOC in contempt of court for failing to provide medical care to detainees (for example, in April 2022 alone, the Department failed to take detainees to 11,789 medical appointments). When DOC returned to court the following month to prove it rectified the problem, it fudged its numbers; instead of counting missed medical appointments, DOC instead reported the number of detainees who missed appointments (so if one detainee missed several appointments, it would only count as 1 missed appointment).
