NY Daily News

“This administration has consistently undermined its legal and moral obligation to close Rikers and complete construction of the borough-based jail system by the mandated deadline of 2027,” said Darren Mack, co-director of Freedom Agenda.

NY Daily News

"Under Adams, New York City has experienced a collapse of its social safety net all the while draconian punitive measures balloon." - This op-ed was written by Darren Mack, the co-director of UJC's Freedom Agenda. 

Queens Eagle

"Darren Mack, the co-director of Freedom Agenda, railed against the DOC, prosecutors and the courts for detaining Savage despite his illness. “No one should die in confinement,” Mack said."

NY1

“We’re here because Mayor Adams proposed a budget which is a recipe for keeping Rikers open by maintaining the Department of Corrections bloated budget,” said Darren Mack, co-director, Freedom Agenda at the Urban Justice Center."

The City

"Darren Mack, co-director of Freedom Agenda at the Urban Justice Center and an organizer of the campaign to close Rikers, described frustration at a climate of disinvestment in city communities that rely on government for services and opportunities."

Queens Daily Eagle

“Being in jail, in the first place, is inherently traumatic and not having access to recreation exacerbates that,” Darren Mack, the co-director of Freedom Agenda [part of the Urban Justice Center]."

Gothamist

"Jail chaplain Victoria A. Phillips [of the Mental Health Project], another detainee advocate who signed the letter to the mayor, said women should have their own facility where they don’t risk contact with male detainees."

Harlem World

The New York Community Trust today announced more than $7.7 million in grants to 39 nonprofits... [including] Freedom Agenda: $150,000 to advocate to repurpose Rikers Island and reform the city’s approach to incarceration.

NY Daily News

"Solitary confinement killed my son, Brandon Rodriguez, on Aug 10,2021. It is wrong and disgusting for Mayor Adams to lie to the public and say the city jails don’t use solitary confinement and haven’t used it since 2019." - Tamara Carter, Freedom Agenda member advocate

Gothamist

"Darren Mack, an advocate for incarcerated people and their families with the organization Freedom Agenda, said many detainees were harmed in other ways despite the decline in deaths."