I have gotten more calls today from people currently incarcerated at Rikers and their families. A hunger strike is starting among those housed at OBCC, a facility there, & I am sharing their experiences & demands at their request. They’re on lockdown, waiting to get sick. THREAD/
A man who was COVID+ was sick in the dorms until he was removed by staff in the middle of the night on Sat. Ppl woke up to see his bed stripped. A guard later confirmed he had the virus. 50 people are sleeping 18 inches apart but none who had contact with him have been tested. 2/
They had to hold a sit-in in their dining hall to demand toilet paper on Friday. They had run out. Now they are out again, and the guards can’t say when it will be replenished. 3/
They are still out of soap. Someone went into their own supply from commissary to stock it with small bars for a couple of days, but that has now run out. There are no cleaning supplies. 50 people are sharing 5 toilets, 5 sinks & 5 showers, and all are unclean. 4/
A person has been sick in bed for 3 days with COVID symptoms. He was taken to the medical unit and turned away because it was full. He is back in the dorm. Other people are sick with coughs, fevers, and other signs of illness but can’t see doctors. 5/
The people there are able to watch some news on TV. The newspapers they receive have articles that are cut out, and there are more and more gaps in the papers they get. They believe that the articles about COVID are removed to prevent panic, but it’s rising. 6/
They’re locked down. Commissary & the dining hall are closed. There is no rec time. People are in the dorms, sitting on beds less than 2 feet apart from each other. “The news says we’re supposed to be social distancing, but we are sleeping 18 inches away from each other.” 7/
People are in limbo. Some people who thought they were being released are still there. Others who were supposed to be transported elsewhere are now stuck. There are no visits with loved ones, no video calls with lawyers, and increasingly limited use of phones on lockdown. 8/
Some who called me have preexisting conditions making them vulnerable to COVID. They know from the news they are at increased risk of dying. No protections are being taken for them. One man told me his asthma has him worried that when he gets sick, he won’t see his son again. 9/
A few people who were coughing were given single-use surgical masks a couple of days ago — a total of about 10 masks altogether. They are no longer usable and there are no more. One person had theirs confiscated by a guard. 10/
Guards and staff are sick and the people who can still work are working double shifts to cover for their colleagues. Confirmed cases among staff were up to 80, and that was several days ago. 11/
I asked everyone I spoke to what they want the public to know. One man said, “I want people to know that just in case we die, I don’t want us to die for no reason. I just want them to know that we tried to tell people.” 12/
The wife of one incarcerated person told me, “I want them to know that these are human beings and you can’t just throw them away like this. They need help.” 13/
Another incarcerated person told me, “This thing is spreading faster in here than it is on the outside. We don’t have the proper materials to sanitize, we are sleeping next to each other, we are being denied medical treatment...” 14/
“We can’t go get tested or get medical care. We are pretty much just stuck to take it however it comes. We don’t have any way to make it better.” 15/
Another man said, “Free us. We need to go home to our families before we get sick.” He also has a child, and is jailed pending trial. 16/
Their demands are simple: they want masks, gloves, TP, soap, and disinfectants. But more importantly, they need to go home. Our electeds, particularly @NYGovCuomo & @NYCMayor, as well as DAs and judges sitting in NYC, have not done enough. They were warned this would happen. 17/
There are only a few reasons a person is at Rikers: they’re jailed pre-trial & presumed innocent, awaiting a decision on a prob or parole vio, or serving a misd. or low-level sentence of <1 year. None have been sentenced to death by suffocation. All could be sick in <2 weeks. 18/
To be frank, the time to implement safety precautions in the facilities was weeks ago. The only way to combat the rise of COVID on Rikers, which now has the highest rate of infection in the world, is to release people. The BOC, jail health officials, & advocates all agree. 19/
Please contact @NYCMayor and @NYGovCuomo and tell them that now is the time to release people from Rikers and city jails — not the time to push policies of mass incarceration. Call your elected officials and demand humanity before a week from now, when it may be too late. 20/
I do not want to be hyperbolic, but every expert and data point suggests we are not far from mass deaths at Rikers. There are no ventilators. It has been hard to hear these calls knowing that anyone I talk to may not make it. Please help our neighbors. /END
I just received another call echoing many details of the accounts I have shared. This person is immunocompromised and told me, “I haven’t even been convicted of a crime, but they are sentencing me to death.”
