THREAD: Another death on Rikers. Violence. Self harm. Denied food. Medicine. Beds. Know this: This isn’t bc of a “shortage” of officers. This is bc police--enabled by media--lied about bail reform & alternatives to mass caging. Happening across the country.nytimes.com/2021/10/18/nyr…
The horrors you are seeing on Rikers are the result of a coordinated campaign of fearmongering. Copes weaponized a handful of tragedies printed by a complicit media, to convince the public that commonsense bail reform was dangerous when opposite was true.fwd.us/news/new-repor…
History: In April 2019, NY passed widely popular bail reform. No jail for most misdemeanors, non-violent felonies & a few “violent” offenses that included no physical harm. It worked. Thousands who otherwise would’ve been caged were w/ families. Kept jobs & housing.
The reforms came after years of organizing to end the practice of making freedom dependent on wealth, and to make real the supposed foundation of our legal system - the presumption of innocence. Also created a pathway for the elimination of Rikers Island. nytimes.com/2019/10/17/opi…
NY police & prosecutors couldn’t win on ideas, so resorted to cynical tactic of fear to defeat bail reform. Same strategy used through the 80s & 90s to create what's known today as mass incarceration to perpetuate it. Unfortunately, it worked.theappeal.org/protestors-alb…
In 2020, NY leaders caved to political pressure & expanded the numbers of those who could be caged pretrial. They did so during the height of the pandemic, in the middle of the night, just weeks after bail reform was enacted. And the NYC jail population swelled.
Rikers is a hellscape. Now ~6000 humans are caged there, & in a jail-boat in the Bronx. The steep increase bc of bail rollbacks, judges undermining key parts of the reforms, & ever-worsening court delays have all contributed. Rikers must close. But there’s more.
NYC prosecutors right now -- most if not all who consider themselves liberal & progressive & vote Democrat -- are asking judges to cage even more people there. Despite what they know. Last week, judges listened 260 times. Set unaffordable bail.
https://twitter.com/macfathom/status/1450505486021894153?s=20
We must stand vigilant & not continue to be duped by lies & propaganda. This is not just a Rikers story. Or a NY one. It’s happening all across the country. Right now it's happening in Chicago. Cops are trying to roll back bail reform. teenvogue.com/story/rising-c…
In San Francisco, liberal billionaires & far right racists are funding & driving an effort of demonizing people living in poverty while making up statistics to recall a forward thinking prosecutor and former public defender named Chesa Boudin.
https://twitter.com/ScottHech/status/1447995201469911042?s=20
What can you do. Stop believing what cops are telling you and press is printing about crime & causation. Get to know the facts yourselves.
https://twitter.com/ScottHech/status/1450507744939687940?s=20
What you can do? A lot, but one really tangible thing is volunteer to COURTWATCH. Get trained on language of court & help collectively hold prosecutors to account. Google “CourtWatch” and your city. Some like CourtWatchpg.com are virtual. Join from anywhere.
Follow @crisisatrikers for up to date information on NYC prosecutor requests to continue sending people to Rikers. And let the NYC District Attorneys know how you feel: @BrooklynDA @ManhattanDA @QueensDAKatz @BronxDAClark @StatenIslandDA
https://twitter.com/crisisatrikers/status/1450499599983161346?s=20
To prevent more deaths on Rikers, @NYCMayor & other elected leaders need to stand up to those who seek to drag us backward & tell the public what is true - more jail makes us less safe. No one should die because they are too poor to buy their freedom.nytimes.com/2021/09/15/opi…
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