Jonas Zaitz (Cattell Center) on Rikers closure plan off track and budget demands
Zaitz urges the council to hold up the budgeting process until the administration provides a measurable, funded plan to close Rikers, noting nearly 80 deaths since the 2019 closure plan and criticizing increased DOC and NYPD funding.
Thank you, Chair Brooks-Priors, for holding today's oversight hearing.
My name is Jonas Zaitz, and I'm the Advocacy Director at the Cattell Center for Equity, Health, and Justice.
Our members are from across the city and include people who have been formerly incarcerated and families and loved ones.
And many of our members know how horrific Rikers is, and they are incredibly troubled by the closure plan being off track.
And this year's executive budget takes some steps in the right direction, and we will definitely acknowledge that.
But it ultimately falls short in making significant investments to reduce the jail population, and it leaves the closure plan in limbo.
Reducing the jail population will require decisive and large-scale action by the Mendami administration, the city council, and the courts.
And the increased funding for the DOC.
And the expansion of the NYPD means that the mayor is not meeting his commitments to sustainably fund, you know, investments in things that will reduce the jail population and essential services that New Yorkers rely on.
And the solutions to reduce the city's jail population and advance the closure of Rikers have been thoroughly documented.
And at this point, it's a matter of political will.
And the mayor and the city council can no longer continue approving the DOC budget without more details on the Burbank Jail's cost overruns and timelines.
The city clearly has no intention to meet the legal closure deadline of 2027, but has not reconfigured the plan to close.
Rikers and provide a definitive timeline.
And so we urge this committee and the full council to hold up the budgeting process until the administration puts forward a measurable and funded plan to shut down Rikers.
The city council must use its legislative and budgetary powers to reduce the jail population, advance the closure of Rikers, and hold the mayor accountable to the closure plan.
Lives are at stake, and since the city council passed the closure plan in 2019, nearly 80 people have died on Rikers.
Thank you for the time.
Thank you.
It's not on.