Juvenile Justice Information Exchange (https://jjie.org/tag/rikers-island/)
The New York City Department of Corrections will discipline 17 officers for their conduct surrounding the death of 27-year-old Layleen Polanco, a transgender Rikers Island inmate being housed in solitary confinement.
Waiting to be taken to Dutchess County Jail for the last time, Matthew Herring knew from experience he needed something that would ease the pain to come. The 24-year-old from Fishkill, N.Y., anticipated an excruciating detox from heroin. So he grabbed a handful of Suboxone pills.
The first time Christina Vengerovsky met Layleen Cubilette-Polanco was on Christopher Street in the summer of 2010. Her friends had been talking about a girl in a yellow dress, saying there was no way that girl was trans.
I scrolled down my Instagram feed when I spotted it. It was an image of a jail cell on Rikers Island. Below was a caption that read, “Free studio apartment in a gated community with ocean views and vintage style rod-iron double doors. Excellent security and free laundry.”
When Ron started working at Horizon Detention Center in early October, he expected the Bronx facility to be full of “ra-ra, rowdy” teens. To his surprise, the residents were calm, even respectful, and the bright, clean halls reminded him of a dormitory.
As the first step in New York’s raise the age law, all 16- and 17-year-olds were moved off New York City’s notorious Rikers Island and into more appropriate juvenile facilities by the Monday deadline, according to an announcement by Mayor Bill de Blasio.
They stood on the steps of City Hall; faith leaders, community organizers, formerly incarcerated men and women. They stood behind Democratic state Sen. Brian Benjamin with banners in their hands.
Herbert Murray, more than 6 feet tall and beanpole thin, held his clipboard and began to walk along the line of people outside City Hall Park in lower Manhattan who were waiting to join the one-year anniversary rally for the #CLOSErikers Campaign.
A damning report out of Albany and a surprise announcement by Mayor Bill de Blasio have renewed hopes among activists and advocates that the long-sought goal of shutting down Rikers Island could come sooner than expected.
“You never know how sacred your freedom is until it’s jeopardized.”
That’s the driving sentiment behind “Crown Heights,” a new film that tells a tale of friendship and perseverance in the face of a miscarriage of justice.