John,
Did you know that Color Of Change has a billboard in Times Square right now calling on Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance to stop sending people to their death on Rikers Island?
We have been sounding the alarm for weeks about the ongoing humanitarian crisis at Rikers and throughout NYC jails. And the situation is only getting more desperate as the crisis drags on.
14 people have died just this year:
Say their names: Stephan Khadu, Tomas Carlo, Thomas Braunson III, Jose Mejia Martinez, Brandon Rodriguez, Segundo Guallpa, Isa Abdul-Karim, Javier Velasco, Richard Blake, Robert Jackson, Wilson Diaz-Guzman, Esias Johnson, Victor Mercado, and Anthony Scott.
Enough is enough. Join us in calling on the 5 NYC District Attorneys to use their power to act now and safely decarcerate Rikers Island.
send a letter: demand nyc district attorneys let our people go
John, since we last emailed our members about the crisis at Rikers, we have
- Coauthored a letter with the Vera Institute for Justice demanding that District Attorneys take action
- Published an Op-Ed in the New York Daily News titled "Free More People from Rikers Right Now"
- Got a billboard in Times Square to educate people on the issue and push them to take action
Now John, we need your help to continue putting on the pressure till our people come home.
take action: let's decarcerate Rikers Island now
John, this crisis doesn’t impact all people equally. Close to 90% of the people at Rikers Island are Black or Latinx.
What's happening at Rikers is a racial justice issue fueled by mass incarceration. And people are being sentenced to death before even being convicted of a crime.
64-year old Victor Mercado contracted and died from COVID-19 while sitting in jail because he couldn't afford the exorbitant $100,000 bail set for his case. He had been granted compassionate release 1 hour before he died.
DAs keep asking for bail, and in amounts that defendants can’t pay, condemning people - almost all Black and brown, to what officials have described as hell on earth.
This is despite evidence from court data and community bail funds that show that most people will return to court if released pretrial.
Let’s be clear, no one should have to sit in a jail cell because they don’t have the financial means to pay bail.
no one deserves to die because they can't afford bailUntil Justice is Real,
Scott, Erika, Rashad, Arisha, Malachi, Megan, Ernie, Palika, Ariel, Madison, Trevor, Erick, Ana, Kristiana, McKayla and the Color Of Change team
