No Visit to Rikers by President as Nonprofit WITNESS Launches Hats & Gloves Campaign

Chair of the criminal justice committee, Council Member Carlina Rivera, who represents parts of Lower Manhattan tweeted on Wednesday that she had written a letter to U.S. President Joe Biden, inviting him to take a tour of Rikers Island during his visit to New York on Thursday, Feb. 3. The president’s visit did not, finally, take in the tour, as confirmed by the White House, but the request highlights the increased focus on the jail, which has come in for criticism, particularly in recent months, over concerns for both workers and the incarcerated. Rivera’s letter is attached in full below.

“As chair of the Committee on Criminal Justice, I’ll work with all levels of government to address the humanitarian crises at Rikers Island and in our criminal legal system,” Rivera wrote on Wednesday. “I echo the call of Defenders citywide, and invite @POTUS to tour Rikers when he visits NYC this week.”

Meanwhile, as the Bronx and City continue to battle the aftermath of the recent snow storm, bringing with it freezing temperatures and several inches of snow, interns and formerly incarcerated staff at the nonprofit, Witness to Mass Incarceration (WITNESS), recently launched a gloves and hats campaign for the 5,500 people incarcerated at Rikers Island and across the New York City jail system.

“Last week, it was below zero degrees,” the group wrote in a press release announcing the campaign on Jan. 28. “Those incarcerated do not have the basic, necessary items to stay warm.” The group went on to say that the WITNESS Hats and Gloves campaign had been “approved” by New York Department of Corrections (DOCS) to provide all 5,500 people incarcerated on Rikers Island and across the NYC jail system with hats and gloves as extreme cold gripped the City. “We urge the public to donate as little as $10 to provide an incarcerated person with a pair of gloves and a hat,” the group wrote. “In solidarity, we can raise the $55,000 necessary to provide hats and gloves to each person incarcerated in New York City.

Saying the organization was gravely concerned that the people incarcerated in the jail were freezing, WITNESS representatives said the latest campaign was launched as hundreds of incarcerated people on Rikers Island were protesting what were described as life-threatening conditions, rampant within the facility.

“The New York Times reports what inmates describe as dangerously cold conditions at Rikers as temperatures have dropped in the last weeks,” WITNESS representatives wrote on Jan. 28. “Research has shown temperatures are anywhere from 10 to 20 degrees colder inside prisons. Hundreds of those detained on Rikers Island have organized in protest against the prison’s inadequate – and plainly neglectful – response to the unmitigated spread of COVID-19 across the facility.”

They added, “Those incarcerated on Rikers and in jails across NYC are subjected to overcrowded, unsanitary, and violent conditions even as severe winter weather hits a city reeling from the Omicron wave. WITNESS needs your support in providing immediate material relief in the form of hats and gloves to incarcerated people throughout New York City.”

Norwood News reached out to NYC Department of Correction (DOC) for comment on the points raised by WITNESS regarding the conditions at the jail, including the COVID situation and the hats & gloves campaign. A spokesperson responded on Thursday, Feb. 3, saying,  “During the cold winter months, we take numerous precautions to keep everyone in our care warm such as providing appropriate winter attire before the season begins, regularly monitoring temperatures in housing areas, and having emergency equipment available in case of weather-related power outages. We are committed to ensuring that our facilities remain safe and livable at all times.”

According to DOC, to keep all those who work and live at Rikers facilities safe, the jail created a Cold Weather Action Plan, which includes the distribution of winter items such as, blankets, long sleeve uniforms, sweatshirts and hats. DOC officials said the agency prepares for the winter season months before it begins.

They added that there is a robust and efficient grievance report system which people in custody can use (via free 311 calls) at any time during lockout to express their concerns. They said all facility-based grievances are sent directly to the warden’s office for an investigation.

According to the department, in addition to its existing COVID-19 prevention strategy, which, officials said has proven effective and was developed in conjunction with NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, DOC is also designating at least one unit per facility for people confirmed to have COVID-19, in order to limit transmission.

They said the Correction Health Services (CHS) team continues to offer the vaccine (including boosters) to people in custody and that approximately 46 percent of people currently in custody have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. They also said CHS counsels and educates patients about the vaccine through direct provider-patient communication, as well as through written materials, produced and distributed in conjunction with the department.

DOC officials added that both DOC and CHS continue to encourage people in custody to get vaccinated, an effort which they said included messaging in weekly newsletters, posters, flyers, $100 incentives and $100 gift cards, as well as tablet video messages from Dr. Anthony Fauci, Orange is the New Black author, Piper Kerman, and Mets legend, Mookie Wilson. Officials said the rate of COVID-19 in the jail system is currently lower than that of the city, and that current testing positivity rates and active cases of people in custody will continue to be made available through the CHS COVID-19 Data Snapshot.

Regarding the gloves and hats campaign, the DOC spokesperson said the jail appreciates any donations, but was not lacking any items. “We distribute sweatshirts, long-sleeve uniforms, as well as hats during the winter months. Since September we have distributed over 6,000 hats to people in custody,” the spokesperson wrote, referring once again to the Cold Weather Action plan. “We regularly check the temperatures of housing areas, and we have grievance system in which people in custody can express their concerns,” the spokesperson added.

Last year, other groups like Halt Solitary and The Fortune Society had also critiqued the health and safety measures in place at certain State prisons, referencing Edgecombe Correctional Facility in the Bronx, amid the pandemic in February 2021. “Incarcerated people, many of whom are medically compromised, face myriad threats from COVID-19,” the groups wrote in a Feb. 9, 2021 press release.

Norwood News reached out at the time for comment to DOCCS. At that time, spokesperson, Thomas Mailey, said, the allegations regarding negligence were inaccurate. “Every facet of the State’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak has been guided by facts, scientific data, and the guidance of public health experts at NYS DOH and the CDC, and the work of DOCCS to protect the safety of New York’s incarcerated population is no different,” he said.

Mailey added that DOCCS had completed targeted testing of the entire incarcerated population in the State’s correctional facilities while continuing to follow science-based protocols established at the beginning of the pandemic. “As of Feb. 11, 2021, there have been 63,426 inmates tested with 56,906 negative cases, 5,584 positive cases (with 4,953 of those recovered), and 936 tests pending results,” he said at the time. He added that DOCCS began vaccinating staff and  incarcerated individuals 65 years or older, on Friday, Feb. 5, 2021 and as of that time, over 3,340 vaccinations had been administered, and vaccination efforts were continuing.

Meanwhile, as reported, Rikers has, nonetheless, earned a reputation for being an unsafe and sometimes violent place, both for workers and inmates, 16 of whom died in custody in 2021. During a budget forum hosted by various Bronx senators on Thursday, Feb. 3, at least two residents, one from Throggs Neck, called for the passage of both the Fair & Timely Parole bill, to help advance the cause of long-term rehabilitated incarcerated persons, many of whom are elderly. They said doing so would help reduce the $522 million needed to keep people incarcerated.

Norwood News previously reported on concerns over conditions at the jail for the incarcerated population, particularly around the issue of solitary confinement, as well as concerns for the safety of DOC officers at the jail. On Jan. 24, as reported, the Bronx District Attorney’s office announced charging a Rikers inmate with the attempted rape of a nurse and forcibly touching a DOC officer.

Meanwhile, on Nov. 4, 2021, as reported, a Bronx man was charged following an assault in the jail on a DOC officer. According to that investigation, on Oct. 13, 2021 at approximately 1.12 p.m. in the George R. Vierno Center of Rikers Island jail, the defendant in question allegedly approached the victim, brandishing a sharp metal object, several inches in length, and held the weapon to the officer’s neck.

Last December, we also reported on a resource fair held in the Bronx and organized by Clark to help the formerly incarcerated get back on their feet, post-release.

Norwood News recently reported on an apparent trend in winter coat theft amid the recent freezing temperatures.

WITNESS is described as a queer, women, and formerly incarcerated-led organization whose mission is to center the voices of women and LGBTQ+ people in the movement towards alternatives to mass incarceration. Over the past four years, according to WITNESS officials, the group has organized incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people and those outside the criminal legal system around issues pertaining to the conditions of incarceration in New York City and across the country. “We have led successful legislative, economic, and direct material interventions against the harmful personal and community impacts of incarceration,” they wrote.