Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #CloseRikers
Most recents (5)
Feeling really conflicted and confused post the #CopCityVote about where to go from here and also my feelings on the referendum. Grateful to people like @DaShaunLH with whom I can share my thoughts, but this thread will hopefully summarize some more.
The vote happened FIVE SECONDS ago, but we got so much national and international attention so it makes sense to want to capitalize off of that but also it is difficult to balance that with moving on the state's timeline. People need time to decompress and debrief
but that also isn't conducive with moving quickly always, which is clearly what this referendum needs. I'm not sure where I'm going to spend my efforts, but it most likely won't be with the referendum. I think people who are passionate about it should continue to be
In 2013, I asked #ManhattanDA @CyVanceforDA at a forum to decline to prosecute non-violent protest arrests. He answered that he didn't have the authority.
That was a lie, of course. In fact, it was the same month he declined to prosecute Harvey Weinstein. #ByeCy #ResignVance 1/
That was a lie, of course. In fact, it was the same month he declined to prosecute Harvey Weinstein. #ByeCy #ResignVance 1/
But what wasn't a lie is that Cy Vance aggressively prosecuted 1A arrests at every opportunity for over a decade. He did the same w/ marijuana arrests, gravity knives, etc. Every BS charge NYPD uses to incarcerate Black and Brown NYers, Vance threw the book at people. #ByeCy 2/
But @CyVanceforDA did more than that. He routinely, as a matter of policy, withheld evidence from the defense until the day of trial. This forced Defense Attys to either go to trial unprepared, or send their clients back to Rikers w a continuance. #ByeCy 3/
1) The appalling invocation of @prisonculture's work on #PrisonAbolition by a city council member IN SUPPORT of building new jails in NYC teaches us two important things:
#NoNewJails #CloseRikers
#NoNewJails #CloseRikers
2) First, it teaches us that abolitionists' work of making a world without prisons enticing, exciting, and concrete has had a far enough reach, struck a deep enough chord, that the system is being made to respond at its highest levels
#NoNewJails #PrisonAbolition #CloseRikers
#NoNewJails #PrisonAbolition #CloseRikers
3) Second, it teaches us that the prison/police system is resilient, and can incorporate the language of any philosophy/stance to bolster its own expansion--EVEN ONE EXPLICITLY DEVOTED TO ITS PERMANENT TERMINATION
#NoNewJails #PrisonAbolition #CloseRikers
#NoNewJails #PrisonAbolition #CloseRikers
While most people are enjoying their turkey and pie hangovers today, I’m in court during the day today and night court tonight 5pm-1am. So though I was able to enjoy my Thanksgiving with my family yesterday, my thoughts were with my clients who spent their Thanksgiving on Rikers.
Many of whom are not guilty of a single crime and are there solely because they are poor and unable to pay bail to get them out while their case is pending. I am thankful for my amazing colleagues who work 365 days a year in that hellish place to bring humanity to them.
Watching misdemeanor trespass cases get arraigned tonight. Recommendation by the Manhattan DA’s office is 15 days jail. Judge says he would give 10. For being in a building in which they don’t live on a night where it was 19° out in NYC. Sickened by this. Is @CourtWatchNYC here?
Jail: the churn vs. the grind (THREAD)
For past 2.5 years I have worked as a physician caring for patients in NYC jail, and as an advocate for humane drug policy. In light of #CloseRikers and efforts to transform jail-system, I wanted to share brief thread on jail dynamics. 1/
For past 2.5 years I have worked as a physician caring for patients in NYC jail, and as an advocate for humane drug policy. In light of #CloseRikers and efforts to transform jail-system, I wanted to share brief thread on jail dynamics. 1/
First, I want to remind people there is fundamental difference between jails & prisons. Jails city/county based & largely hold people detained pre-trial (many held in on bail). Most people do not know when they are leaving & unplanned release the norm. Key words: flux, chaos. 2/ 
In NYC in 2017, there were 37,000 people admitted to jail on new charge (not including technical violations of parole) w/ average 7,100 people held pre-trial in jail on any given day. Many leave within a week, but others stay for months to years. Key words again: flux, chaos. 3/
