City & State

"Darren Mack, co-director of the Urban Justice Center's Freedom Agenda, says, "Mayor Adams has never seemed to truly understand the way Rikers undermines public safety. The Public Advocate, on the other hand, has consistently supported the closure of Rikers and measures to rein in DOC's worse abuses."

Gothamist

"No one should be sent to a place where guards aren't required — and aren't compelled by their own sense of humanity — to try to save someone who is bleeding to death," Darren Mack [cofounder of Freedom Agenda] said.

Queens Chronicle

"In response to the death of Anthony Jordan, 63, Darren Mack, co-director of Freedom Agenda, one of the many grassroots organizations leading the Campaign to Close Rikers, issued a statement. “It’s past time for Mayor Adams, district attorneys, and judges to stop sending people to a known death camp, and take every necessary action to shut it down as the law requires.”

Queens Daily Eagle

“Rikers is a grave risk to the life and safety of everyone there,” [Darren Mack, the co-director of advocacy group Freedom Agenda, said in a statement.]. “It’s past time for Mayor [Eric] Adams, district attorneys and judges to stop sending people to a known death camp, and take every necessary action to shut it down as the law requires.”

NY Daily News

"In the wake of the death, Freedom Agenda Co-Director Darren Mack referenced an increase in the jail population and in police arrests and the mandated closure of Rikers Island in 2027. Delays in the construction of the new borough jails has placed the closure date in serious doubt."

The City

“Rikers has claimed another life, and yet another family is grieving today,” said Darren Mack, the co-director of the Freedom Agenda, a nonprofit pushing to close the troubled jail. “And still, the mayor continues his cruel campaign to arrest and jail more of neighbors, subject them to more abuse and neglect on Rikers, and stall its long-overdue closure.”

Digital Chew

"Darren Mack, co-director of Freedom Agenda, strongly condemned Mayor Adams. Mack points out, under Adams’ leadership, the population of people serving city sentences like Jones has quadrupled."

NY Daily News

“The responsibility for Charizma’s death rests squarely on [Mayor Adams'] shoulders,” Mack said. “He could be using his power to provide alternatives to incarceration for more people who are serving short city sentences, like Charizma."

City Limits

"When the state takes away a person’s liberty, it bears a serious obligation to provide them proper care, and the built environment is a big part of that." - Ashley Abadia-Santiago Conrad, Senior Community Organizer

City Limits

"Having housing available for people leaving jail is key to achieving this goal, according to Victor Herrera, an organizer with Freedom Agenda, an anti-carceral organization with the Close Rikers campaign."