Democracy Now!

"In response, [Freedom Agenda] community organizer and Rikers survivor Edwin Santana said in a statement, “This tragedy should show every judge, prosecutor, and elected official who has ignored this truth before — Rikers is a death sentence."

Gotham Gazette

"History shows that we cannot arrest and incarcerate our way to public safety. We can no longer tolerate a city budget that reflects this false notion. With the release of the mayor’s executive budget proposal, it is clear that we have work to do before this year’s budget deadline to move in the right direction." [Op-Ed by Darren Mack of Freedom Agenda and Rev. Wendy Brown]

AM NY

“A receiver may be able to cut through some of the dysfunction accumulated from decades of political cowardice, appeasement of COBA, and disregard for incarcerated people, but Rikers cannot be fixed,” said Darren Mack, Co-Director of Freedom Agenda [at UJC]. “It must be closed, and the Mayor should be taking every opportunity to expedite those plans.” 

NY Daily News

"To propose yet another increase in headcount to solve the same (though considerably worsened) problem without evidence of success is both brazen and irresponsible."