Send a letter: Demand NYC District Attorneys Let our People Go!

There is a humanitarian crisis on Rikers Island and across New York City jails. The only solution is immediate decarceration now.

In April 2020, after years of successful advocacy and organizing aimed at closing Rikers Island - the last remaining penal colony used to exile incarcerated people in the United States - New York City jails were detaining less than 4,000 people for the first time in 75 years!

But since then, the jail population has swelled to over 6,000 people. And, more than 89% of those people have not even been convicted.

Unsurprisingly, Black and brown people bear the brunt of this unjust system. Over 90% of the people held in NYC jails are Black and Latinx.

Meanwhile, guards have walked off the job in droves - using sick days or going AWOL as a means to create more chaos and in the process, only making the situation worse for incarcerated people.

Now, 16 people have died in the New York City jails this year alone.

This is a mass incarceration crisis. Send a letter and demand we decarcerate Rikers Island today!

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We'll notify your representative

Eric Gonzalez (Brooklyn DA)

Cyrus R. Vance, Jr (Manhattan DA)

Darcel D. Clark (Bronx DA)

Melinda Katz (Queens DA)

Michael McMahon (Staten Island DA)

Dear [recipient position will go here] [recipient name will go here],

Your Letter *

We are calling on you to immediately stop requesting bail and remand, and consent to the release of people currently being detained pretrial in perilous conditions on Rikers Island. The humanitarian crisis on Rikers is undeniable, and has now been acknowledged by the Nunez Federal Monitor, the New York City Board of Correction,  the Chair of the New York City Council’s Criminal Justice Committee, and State and Federal legislators. The jail population has been swelling due to COVID-19 related court delays; in July, the Department of Correction reported that 989 pretrial detainees had been in custody longer than 600 days.

A wave of mass absenteeism among guards has further fueled the crisis and incarcerated people are now routinely being denied medical care, food, water, and other basic needs; and are being left in de facto lockdown for hours, days, and beyond. People are dying.

Sending people into this environment subjects them to cruel and unusual punishment, and in some cases, has amounted to an extrajudicial death sentence. It is time for you to also recognize the crisis, and use your power to decarcerate, now - in the name of safety, justice, and human rights.

I urge you to immediately stop requesting bail and remand, and consent to the release of people currently being detained pretrial in perilous conditions on Rikers Island and across city jails.

Sincerely,
[your name will go here]
[your email address will go here] [your location will go here]

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