The recent passing of Venida Browder, mother of Kalief Browder, a young man whose three-year detention at Rikers and subsequent death reverberated throughout our nation, is yet another tragic reminder of the unnecessary and unjustified pain inflicted on the incarcerated and their families. After her death from heart problems, her lawyer posited that she died of a broken heart after her son committed suicide after his release from Rikers, where he spent 400 days in solitary confinement and endured multiple beatings by guards.
The details of Kalief’s experience at Rikers are now well-known: after being arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack, Kalief was held at $3,000 bail, which his mother could not pay. During his detainment, Kalief maintained he never committed the crime and, like three quarters of those held at Rikers, was detained without being convicted of a crime. When his charges were finally dropped and he was released, Kalief and his mother became outspoken advocates against the injustices of our criminal justice system, speaking firsthand about the brutal effects of solitary confinement, inequities in our bail system and the right to a speedy trial.
It is exactly these fault lines in our criminal justice system that inspired the creation of the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform.
The Commission, which I chair, was convened by New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito. Although the Speaker was the impetus for its formation, the Commission is a fully independent body. We will not take a nickel from the government or any political entity. But we are taking input from anyone. We are committed to an open thought process where no ideas are immediately dismissed and all communities affected have an opportunity to share experiences and possible solutions.
The Commission is composed of more than two dozen leaders from a variety of backgrounds, including, academia, advocacy groups, business, law enforcement, philanthropy and those who have spent time behind bars. The membership of the Commission is diverse, but we all share a fierce commitment to New York City and a desire to ensure that our justice system reflects our city’s values of decency, dignity and equal treatment before the law.
We have structured our Commission to try to answer three central questions:
Is it possible to further reduce the population in New York City’s jails?
The Commission is exploring possible policy and procedural changes to reduce the number of individuals held in detention and shorten the amount of time people remain on Rikers Island. Although in recent years New York has substantially reduced the inmate population while improving public safety, we believe that still more can be done to safely bring down the jail population. Possible opportunities for reform include re-thinking our current reliance on bail, addressing case processing delays to ensure the justice system moves as swiftly as possible and examining ways to expand alternative-to-incarceration programs, so that judges have meaningful options other than sending people to Rikers.
What should the jails of tomorrow look like?
Rikers Island is a world apart. The island is only accessible by a narrow bridge, tucked away in a corner of Queens, well off the beaten path. Some of the buildings on Rikers are nearly 90 years old, with temporary facilities that somehow became permanent. None were designed to accommodate current thinking about how to effectively manage jail populations. And none were designed to facilitate modern rehabilitation programs.
We are asking what the jails of tomorrow should look like. How can we create a facility that ensures the safety of corrections officers and detainees? Should jail facilities be located far from the neighborhoods where most inmates reside and the courthouses to which inmates must be transported every single day? Are there lessons that New York City should be learning from other systems, either in the U.S. or around the world? What kinds of services should be offered to jail inmates in an effort to help them get their lives back on track? How can the architecture of a facility help promote peaceful coexistence rather than exacerbate tensions?
We are in the process of identifying the answers to these questions by conducting research, evaluating the data and hearing from New Yorkers across all five boroughs.
What should happen to Rikers Island?
With the help of architects, environmentalists, city planners, land use experts and others, our Commission will look at the potential and the perils of Rikers as a development opportunity.
Although the future of Rikers Island as a physical location must follow—not precede—improving our jail system, Rikers Island provides an opportunity for innovative public-private partnerships potentially benefitting public health, education or research institutions, which in turn, could support ongoing efforts to reform criminal justice. Along those lines, we will also create a comprehensive cost analysis and fiscal strategy, outlining in broad strokes the investment of resources required as well as the benefits that such an investment might reap for New York City and its communities.
Along with our research, we have been working with a wide range of stakeholders, including prosecutors, defense attorneys, corrections officers, civil rights leaders, elected officials, community leaders, formerly incarcerated individuals and many more to hear their perspective on how best to reform our current system. By working together, we can create a system that lives up to our highest ideals of justice, equality and humanity and ensure that the story of Kalief Browder is an emblem of the past, not the future of our system.
Help us create a more just New York City by sending us your thoughts at MoreJustNYC.com.
