Push for polling sites on Rikers
Manhattan Times
"The absentee voting process at the jail is unorganized, charged [UJC Freedom Agenda member Gregory] Williams, and causes many detained at Rikers to miss deadlines."Open polling sites at Rikers Island for inmates, advocates say
NY Daily News
“Greg Williams, 57, who was detained at Rikers in 2020 on a parole violation, said the absentee system was confusing. ‘It just didn’t work the way they had it set up,’ said Williams, an activist with the advocacy group Freedom Agenda...“‘People didn’t know how to get absentee ballots in a timely fashion, who they were supposed to turn to, and there was no one to really advise them."Amid chaos on Rikers, borough jail plan on schedule with planning, construction in Queens, Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn
NY Daily News
"'Anybody who says that’s not enough [beds] has an investment in incarceration,” [Darren Mack, of UJC's Freedom Agenda] said. “To backpedal against what is now the law, it would be subject to lawsuits.'”20-Year-Old Emanuel Sullivan Becomes 22nd Rikers Island Prisoner to Die Since 2021
Democracy Now!
"In response, [Freedom Agenda] community organizer and Rikers survivor Edwin Santana said in a statement, “This tragedy should show every judge, prosecutor, and elected official who has ignored this truth before — Rikers is a death sentence."Closing the Pipeline that Feeds the Disaster of Rikers
Gotham Gazette
"History shows that we cannot arrest and incarcerate our way to public safety. We can no longer tolerate a city budget that reflects this false notion. With the release of the mayor’s executive budget proposal, it is clear that we have work to do before this year’s budget deadline to move in the right direction." [Op-Ed by Darren Mack of Freedom Agenda and Rev. Wendy Brown]Rikers Island crisis: Formerly incarcerated leaders and allies demand urgent humanitarian action in facility
AM NY
“A receiver may be able to cut through some of the dysfunction accumulated from decades of political cowardice, appeasement of COBA, and disregard for incarcerated people, but Rikers cannot be fixed,” said Darren Mack, Co-Director of Freedom Agenda [at UJC]. “It must be closed, and the Mayor should be taking every opportunity to expedite those plans.”More staff won’t solve what plagues Rikers
NY Daily News
"To propose yet another increase in headcount to solve the same (though considerably worsened) problem without evidence of success is both brazen and irresponsible."An Earth Day “To Do” List for NYC’s Mayor & Council Speaker
NRDC Blog
"The Renewable Rikers coalition, spearheaded by groups like Freedom Agenda, envisions turning this island of shame into a showplace of sustainability, with a solar array and energy storage, expanded composting and a modern wastewater treatment plant."Highlights and Takeaways from Beyond the Bars 2022
Columbia U. Neighbors
"The Columba Center for Justice's Beyond the Bars conference resumed with an in-person gathering at Riverside Church that brought together the movements for decarceration, abolition, and climate and environmental justice...The day's second plenary panel featured...Darren Mack (Freedom Agenda)."Fenced up: Protesters rally in Chinatown as new jail construction prepares to begin
AM NY
"Many people are and will be involved in the criminal legal system even as we make progress to reduce incarceration. Building borough jails is a necessary step to protect human rights – along with accountability to make sure these jails are run differently – and we urge the mayor to move quickly on both,” Anna Pastoressa said, a member of Freedom Agenda.”