New York life | To put an end to the hell of Rikers Island

(New York) They both experienced the hell of Rikers Island, one from the inside, the other from the outside.

They both share the same wish: to witness the closure in 2027 of the enormous prison complex which spreads out on this island located on the East River, near LaGuardia airport, as provided for by a law adopted in 2019 .

They are both haunted by the same fear: to see the mayor of New York, Eric Adams, renounce the demolition of this veritable penal colony where rich and famous people, such as Dominique Strauss-Khan and Harvey Weinstein, sometimes pass through, and where Too often, poor and anonymous defendants languish in conditions of unsanitary conditions and violence that make Rikers Island a national disgrace.

“If you’re incarcerated on Rikers Island, you’re either a predator or you’re prey,” says Darren Mack, who spent 19 months in one of the island’s 10 prisons after being charged, to 17 years old, for complicity in theft.

Born in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn, Darren Mack was transferred to a penitentiary in upstate New York after being sentenced to serve 20 to 40 years in prison. Released in 2014 after 20 years behind bars (and with a university degree obtained thanks to the Bard Prison Initiative), he immediately joined the fight to close Rikers Island.

A sister’s “sleepless nights”

But you don’t have to be locked up there to experience the horrors of Rikers Island.

“I lived on the outside thinking about my brother who was inside every minute, every second, literally,” says Mauricia Harry, whose youngest child was detained at Rikers Island from August 2021 to March 2023 .

Mauricia Harry’s brother was incarcerated at Rikers Island after being indicted, at age 21, among 13 other alleged members of a Brooklyn criminal street gang. According to his sister, prison officers were quick to place him with members of a rival gang.

“It’s their way of exercising control,” maintains Mauricia Harry.

One day, she said, her brother was sent to solitary confinement after a fight in which he had only defended himself. However, the door to his isolation cell remained open and six armed detainees were able to enter, according to the sister.

“They attacked him for 15 minutes,” says Mauricia Harry, who is still trying to determine, with the help of lawyers, how such a scenario could have happened. “The medical staff barely treated his injuries,” she adds.

Might as well say they ignored the mental health issues of his brother, who was diagnosed with ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder when he was younger.

“My parents, who immigrated from St. Vincent to have a better life in New York, swore by discipline to solve my brother’s problems. But it was obvious since he was 2 years old that he was different,” says Mauricia Harry.

The case of Kalief Browder

Darren Mack’s parents fled to New York from the racial segregation that was rampant in South Carolina in the 1950s. The father made his living as a unionized construction worker. The mother has done a thousand and one jobs, including saleswoman and attendant in a cafeteria.

“My parents raised me well,” says the man who became co-director of the Freedom Agenda organization after earning a master’s degree in social sciences. “I tell them all the time. But they couldn’t be with us on the streets of Bushwick. »

Darren Mack thus talks about the fact that he and his four brothers all had a prison experience. One of them, he said, died in prison after being convicted of a crime in which he had not participated.

He does not deny his own guilt in the theft that cost him 20 years of freedom. But journalists’ questions about the reasons for his incarceration at Rikers Island made him flinch.

Kalief Browder’s case strongly contributed to his involvement in the campaign to close Rikers Island. Kalief Browder is this son of the Bronx who was incarcerated from 2010 to 2013 in one of the worst prisons at Rikers Island after being accused of stealing a backpack containing valuables, when he was 17 years old (he always pleaded his innocence).

Sent to solitary confinement for 800 days, he attempted suicide three times. Two years after his release and the charges against him being dropped, he died by hanging.

7 minutes and 51 seconds

“When he took his own life, I felt like something had to change,” says Darren Mack. Rikers Island cannot be fixed. It cannot be reformed. You have to close it, it’s the only solution. »

Eric Adams’ predecessor, Bill de Blasio, came to the same conclusion. In 2017, he outlined a plan to close the prison complex and replace it with four new “smaller, safer and fairer” prisons in four of New York’s five boroughs. The plan comes with a promise to invest in programs to combat homelessness, mental health and addiction. Problems that have contributed to the incarceration of many of the approximately 6,000 inmates at Rikers Island today.

Three years before the complex’s planned closure, only the new Brooklyn jail is under construction. And Mayor Adams cites budget restrictions to question the project timeline proposed by Bill de Blasio and approved by the City Council.

Meanwhile, New York City continues to pay for the horrors of Rikers Island. On April 6, she agreed to pay $28 million to Madeline Feliciano, whose grandson, Nicholas Feliciano, suffered brain damage after attempting suicide by hanging while in police custody in November 2019. According to surveillance video, six corrections officers observed the suicide attempt for 7 minutes and 51 seconds before intervening. Nicholas Feliciano, who suffered from clinical depression, was 18 years old.

“Most prison officers have their own traumas,” says Mauricia Harry. “They are essentially trauma victims who monitor trauma victims. They need a mental health assessment. Everyone needs to be reevaluated. And if they have problems, they have to take time off, go to therapy, or be fired. »