Mayor Adams and Commissioner Molina Are Inept and Corrupt

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.

Federal Receivership is the Only Solution

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 Release

The Department Of Correction Plan on Rikers is Inadequate, Recycled, and Unworkable. Here's why:

Our REsponse

Receivership is a step towards ensuring successful reforms and the closing of Rikers Island by or before 2027.

For more information about the #CLOSERikers campaign:

#CloseRikers

You Can Do Something Today

Email your City council representative demanding receivership.

Contact Your Council Member

Send A Tip

Please 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.

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RECEIVERSHIP IS THE ANSWER!

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Detained Person Deaths on Rikers Island since Eric Adams became mayor

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The Path to Closing RIKERS

Receivers are given broad and expansive powers to solve complex problems in crisis without political interference.

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Why Receivership Is Necessary

A receiver is necessary to change internal policies that have enabled a decades-long culture of violence and neglect.

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Federal Monitor’s Compliance Ratings Report Card

The City is not compliant with any of the Federal Monitor’s 15 categories for necessary improvement.

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Timeline for Administration: The Problem Worsens

The Adams Administration has demonstrated that they are unfit to lead the jail.

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History of Receivership

Receivership has proven to be a successful way to fix jails across the country.

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Receivership Support Tracker

Who supports receivership?

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Possibilities with a Receiver

The tools and resources a Receiver will have that are missing from a City-led plan.

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Coalition of NY State Senators to CJ Swain

Nunez v. City of New York

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When Visitors Were Banned From Rikers Island, Even More Drugs Showed Up

The 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.

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In a Rikers Jail Cell, a Man Lay Dead for Hours Before He Was Discovered

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.

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I-Team: Locking Prisoners in Narrow Shower Stalls Called "Inhumane" at Rikers Island

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.

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Rikers Island Inmate Died After Choking on an Orange - and No Correction Officer Was There to Help: Sources

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.

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Legal Aid Lawyers Claim NYC Fiddles with Rikers Missed Medical Visit Numbers to Make them Look Better

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).

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