To: Bill DeBlasio and City Council Speaker Johnson
Mayor Bill de Blasio: Don’t Build 4 New Jails in NYC!
Sign the petition If You Agree:
City Council must vote ‘NO’ on rezoning for this jail expansion plan. Mayor Bill de Blasio must withdraw his jail construction plan and commit to closing Rikers.
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No New Jails NYC is a multiracial, intergenerational network of residents, community members, and activists fighting against Mayor Bill de Blasio’s oppressive and violent jail expansion plan. We are calling for the immediate and expedient closure of Rikers without building new jails in any borough in New York City.
City Council must vote ‘NO’ on rezoning for this jail expansion plan. Mayor Bill de Blasio must withdraw his jail construction plan and commit to closing Rikers.
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No New Jails NYC is a multiracial, intergenerational network of residents, community members, and activists fighting against Mayor Bill de Blasio’s oppressive and violent jail expansion plan. We are calling for the immediate and expedient closure of Rikers without building new jails in any borough in New York City.
Why is this important?
Background: How We Got Here
After years of mounting pressure--including investigations by New York State, the U.S. Department of Justice, several class action settlements, and the experiences of incarcerated individuals and their loved ones all revealing a deeply entrenched “culture of violence” on Rikers--Mayor Bill de Blasio announced, in spring 2017, a 10-year plan to close the jails on Rikers Island by building another system of jails. The expected cost for the new jails plan exceeds $10 billion and is not projected to be completed until 2027. The plan would result in 6,000 new cages for humans in four massive new jails. The plan does not require New York City to close Rikers after the new jails are built, effectively enlarging NYC’s jail system far into the future. And we know: if they build it, they will fill it.
To avoid public opposition, Mayor de Blasio has manipulated the political process to bypass any real community input on building new jails. Instead, the only political decision that remains is whether to rezone the four selected NYC locations to build jails up to 50-stories tall - the tallest jails in the world. In the coming months, the New York City Planning Commission and City Council will vote on the land-use proposal for the jails plan. If they vote yes, construction on the jails could begin in 2020. The Mayor’s Office has already set aside money for new jail construction in the preliminary budget.
Call to Action: #NoNewJailsNYC
Join us in opposition to the Mayor’s borough-based jail expansion plan. Nearly 80% of the people in NYC jails are just awaiting trial and have not been convicted of any crime. And no matter how “humane,” “rehabilitative,” “modern,” or “safe” the City claims the new jails will be, just like the jails on Rikers, a ll jails perpetuate violence for individuals, their families, their communities, and NYC overall. That’s how we got Rikers in the first place, which reformers called “the most perfect prison in the world“ when it was being planned. Jails make everyone less safe. Instead of committing NYC to a future of unnecessary and harmful incarceration, we can and must close every jail on Rikers – without opening new jail complexes anywhere in NY.
After years of mounting pressure--including investigations by New York State, the U.S. Department of Justice, several class action settlements, and the experiences of incarcerated individuals and their loved ones all revealing a deeply entrenched “culture of violence” on Rikers--Mayor Bill de Blasio announced, in spring 2017, a 10-year plan to close the jails on Rikers Island by building another system of jails. The expected cost for the new jails plan exceeds $10 billion and is not projected to be completed until 2027. The plan would result in 6,000 new cages for humans in four massive new jails. The plan does not require New York City to close Rikers after the new jails are built, effectively enlarging NYC’s jail system far into the future. And we know: if they build it, they will fill it.
To avoid public opposition, Mayor de Blasio has manipulated the political process to bypass any real community input on building new jails. Instead, the only political decision that remains is whether to rezone the four selected NYC locations to build jails up to 50-stories tall - the tallest jails in the world. In the coming months, the New York City Planning Commission and City Council will vote on the land-use proposal for the jails plan. If they vote yes, construction on the jails could begin in 2020. The Mayor’s Office has already set aside money for new jail construction in the preliminary budget.
Call to Action: #NoNewJailsNYC
Join us in opposition to the Mayor’s borough-based jail expansion plan. Nearly 80% of the people in NYC jails are just awaiting trial and have not been convicted of any crime. And no matter how “humane,” “rehabilitative,” “modern,” or “safe” the City claims the new jails will be, just like the jails on Rikers, a ll jails perpetuate violence for individuals, their families, their communities, and NYC overall. That’s how we got Rikers in the first place, which reformers called “the most perfect prison in the world“ when it was being planned. Jails make everyone less safe. Instead of committing NYC to a future of unnecessary and harmful incarceration, we can and must close every jail on Rikers – without opening new jail complexes anywhere in NY.