Mayor Eric Adams capped off a busy Thanksgiving Day last week visiting Rikers Island to meet with the jail’s employees and detainees. He based his visit off a “three-fold mission,”
“Number one, I wanted to thank the officers who are here,” said Adams. “I think they [are] just under-appreciated [for] a very difficult job dealing with some of the ‘most violent’ offenders in the city, but they do it every day. And I wanted to visit the inmates and engage in the conversation and tell them that where they are is not who they are. It’s about reengaging themselves, learning from whatever placed them here in the first place, and coming out with the desire not to return.
“And lastly, we have a mother here with a child, a newborn—I wanted to visit her because no matter what an individual does in their lives, we need to treat people in a humane way and I want to stop in and say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone here and wish them the best as the new holiday season.”
For the last third of his mission, Adams visited the nursery at the Rose M. Singer Center, where a woman detained at “Rosie’s” gave birth in the women’s jail six months ago, reports NY1.
But not everyone was heartwarmed by the gesture. Anna Pastoressa, a founding member of a leading campaign to close Rikers, Freedom Agenda, felt Adams’ comments calling detainees “some of the most violent offenders in the city” mischaracterized those actually held in the infamous jail.
“He talks like if this is a maximum security prison—even if it was a maximum security prison, you don’t talk that way—but he actually knows that this is not a prison, these are not convicted people,” she said. “These are presumably innocent people according to our Constitution and they are innocent until proven guilty.”
Pastoressa’s son was held at Rikers for six years. She says Thanksgiving is a bittersweet day for families of detainees—the worst part is the uncertainty of when, or if, the empty seat at the dinner table will be filled again. As for those spending the holiday in custody, she hopes they’ll be afforded some cheer, even for one night.
“For Thanksgiving the same way you have soup kitchens all over the city, why don’t you go there and bring some food or blankets to these people” said Pastoressa. “These people are not supposed to be seen as substandard humans. They are innocent and we shall remember that and they don’t need to be punished [by those standards] even if they’re found guilty and [put in] prison.”
2022 is a particularly deadly year for the city jails, with 18 detainee deaths while in or immediately after Department of Corrections custody. A majority occurred directly on Rikers Island.
Earlier this month, Adams said the city needed to expedite detentions at Rikers so New Yorkers like Pastoressa’s son wouldn’t need to sit in jail for years awaiting trial.
Along with his visit to Rikers, Adams also attended the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, served food at the National Action Networks’ Day of Giving and offered remarks for a celebration at Boys and Girls High School in Bed-Stuy.
Tandy Lau is a Report for America corps member and writes about public safety for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep him writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting: https://bit.ly/amnews1