AM NY

“What DOC and the courts are failing to admit is that we are in a human rights emergency. The chronic staff absenteeism continues while DA’s and judges are unnecessarily sending people to a potential death sentence. New York City’s communities need accountability, decarceration, and ultimately closure of the jails,” [UJC's] Freedom Agenda Co-Director Darren Mack said in a statement.

El Diario

“Darren Mack, director de la organización Freedom Agenda agregó que el Departamento de Correcciones de la Ciudad de Nueva York sigue “violando implacablemente los estándares mínimos de la Junta Correccional, la ley estatal y los Derechos Humanos”.

News 12

“Co-Director of the UJC Freedom Agenda Darren Mack called on the mayor to help put an end to Rikers Island once and for all, stating that the facility cannot be reformed.”

AM NY

"Co- Director of the [UJC] Freedom Agenda Darren Mack called on the mayor to help put an end to Rikers Island once and for all, stating that the facility cannot be reformed."

The City

“‘Far too many people have been traumatized, tortured, and lost their lives in DOC custody, especially in solitary confinement,’ said Darren Mack, co-director of [UJC's] Freedom Agenda and a member of the Jails Action Coalition.”

Amsterdam News

Criminal justice advocate Darren Mack, co-director of [UJC's] Freedom Agenda, said that Rikers should have closed a long time ago because no one is safe there. “We need immediate decarceration, like the effort we saw at the beginning of COVID-19, with action from judges, prosecutors, and the DOC commissioner with the support of the mayor,” said Mack. “Without that, they are choosing to let people die.”

The City

Sarita Daftary, co-director of [UJC's] Freedom Agenda, an organization that’s part of the coalition that pushed Renewable Rikers, agreed. “OBCC should be transferred,” she said. “It makes sense to consolidate operations."

NY1

"The mayor's visit was just to show support to correction officers," said Melissa Vergara, [a member of UJC's Freedom Agenda] who has a son on Rikers. "We never address the violence that comes from the other end,” she added.

Queens Daily Eagle

“Rikers should have closed long ago, and by now, judges, prosecutors, and all elected officials know that no one is safe there.” -Darren Mack, the co-director of nonprofit Freedom Agenda [at the Urban Justice Center]"

NY Post

"[UJC's] Freedom Agenda, an advocacy group working to close Rikers, lambasted the DOC for the seventh death in less than six months. 'As the Department of Correction generates plans to create plans, New Yorkers continue to suffer and die in their custody,' Freedom Agenda’s co-founder Darren Mack said in a statement."