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Trinity Church Awards to Multiple Downtown Public-Service Groups

By |2022-01-24T15:24:04-05:00January 13th, 2022|Press|

The Broadsheet

"A contribution (of $150,000) went to the Freedom Agenda project at the Urban Justice Center (located on Rector Street), which seeks to empower formerly incarcerated individuals.”
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Dozens of Advocates, Elected Officials Rally at Rikers Island

By |2022-02-14T14:22:48-05:00January 13th, 2022|Uncategorized|

Patch

"We stand in solidarity with them and their demands for basic needs which should already been met. DOC must act swiftly before another life is lost," said Darren Mack, Co-Director of Freedom Agenda."
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New councilmembers reflect on surprise visit to Rikers,

By |2022-02-14T14:19:04-05:00January 7th, 2022|News|

Queens Daily Eagle

"Freedom Agenda Co-Director Darren Mack, who was formerly incarcerated in Rikers, said the only true way to solve the Rikers crisis is to completely and permanently close the facilities."
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The Bronx Social Justice and Anti-Violence Forums: Featuring Freedom Agenda

By |2022-02-14T14:16:09-05:00January 6th, 2022|News|

BronxNet

"Host Daren Jaime sits down with the Co-Director of Freedom Agenda, Darren Mack discussing an update on Rikers Island, the work the organization is doing to advocate and defend the human rights of incarcerated people."
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Eric Adams’ New Jail Commissioner Pushes Out Acclaimed Head of Investigations

By |2022-01-05T20:21:31-05:00January 4th, 2022|News|

The City

“It’s concerning that Deputy Commissioner Townsend’s removal was a top goal of COBA and this incoming administration capitulated,” said Darren Mack, co-director of Freedom Agenda in the Urban Justice Center.
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Eric Adams straddles the line on Rikers closure plan

By |2021-12-22T16:36:45-05:00December 15th, 2021|News|

Politico

Darren Mack, a co-director of Freedom Agenda, said the current crisis at Rikers, with 15 deaths this year in the city jail system, makes moving forward with the plan all the more urgent. “This is something that survivors of Rikers, advocates and allies have fought for and we believe that definitely the next administration should stick to the plan,” he said. “It’s a human rights crisis. What could be more urgent than that?”
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Rikers Island Reports 2nd Inmate Death In Less Than A Week

By |2021-12-22T16:34:57-05:00December 15th, 2021|News|

CBS News

"There was also no surprise,” former inmate Darren Mack said. That’s the reaction Mack had after learning another inmate in less than a week died on Rikers Island. Mack said he spent nearly two years on Rikers back in the ’90s, and the former inmate says the conditions were not great. “I recall, like, walking into solitary confinement, and there was, like, a Plexiglas over one of the cells and the cell Plexiglas was covered from top to bottom with feces,” he said.
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Advocates call for decarceration, closing Rikers Island

By |2021-12-22T16:31:39-05:00December 15th, 2021|News|

Queens Examiner

Darren Mack, co-director of Freedom Agenda and a formerly incarcerated activist, has been involved with the initiative to close Rikers Island since 2016. “Every human being should be equal in dignity and rights,” said Mack. “Unfortunately, that is not the case for people who are funneled into New York City’s jail system which is a human rights crisis. Judges and DA’s are sending people to a potential death sentence. “If the Department of Corrections cannot keep people safe and alive, then they should not have people in their custody,” he added.
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Rikers Island witnesses 16th death of incarcerated individual this year

By |2021-12-22T16:26:24-05:00December 15th, 2021|News|

AMNY

Judges, prosecutors, the Mayor, the Governor, and other elected officials have shown a complete indifference to the lives of incarcerated people, as they send hundreds more New Yorkers each week into the deadly conditions on Rikers and The Boat,” said Darren Mack, a survivor of Rikers Island and co-founder of the Freedom Agenda, which seeks to have all Rikers Island jails closed. “William Brown, Malcolm Boatwright, and fourteen others this year were meted out death sentences by the NYC jail and court system. A system this morally bankrupt, dysfunctional, and neglectful lacks the legitimacy to detain anyone. The only practical and humane solution is immediate decarceration.
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Human Rights Day of Action Heads to Queens Court

By |2021-12-14T18:20:50-05:00December 10th, 2021|News|

Queens Daily Eagle

“Organized by the Urban Justice Center’s Freedom Agenda, more than a dozen activists, public defenders and members of CourtWatch NYC gathered outside to demand a better system on International Human Rights day... “Every human being should be equal in dignity and rights. Unfortunately, that is not the case for people who are funneled into NYC’s jail system which is a human rights crisis,” said Freedom Agenda Co-Director Darren Mack.
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