A Decade is too Long to #CLOSERIKERS

Rikers Island and violence go hand in hand. The notorious jail complex in New York, known for its brutality and abuse towards the incarcerated both by other occupants and correctional officers, is often described as dangerous, corrupt, and a place of suffering. Whether or not to close Rikers has been an ongoing battle. On March 31st, Mayor Bill de Blasio finally vowed to close Rikers Island and open a series of smaller jails based in the boroughs of New York City. This is provided that the number of people cycling through the system is reduced to 5,000; low enough to accommodate the transition to the new jails. De Blasio stated that the process could take more than a decade to complete. In the meantime, the violence on Rikers continues.

In June 2016, we held our first Mass Story Lab in New York City focused specifically on the negative impact of Rikers Island. Six storytellers spoke of the horrors of the complex. One of those storytellers was Johnny Perez. He was incarcerated as a child at sixteen years old. During his time on the island, he faced extreme violence. Gang violence, he said, was very prevalent.

“If you’re not in a gang, you have to fight. You have to fight for your food, your commissary, your sneakers… you have to fight to keep your sanity. You have to fight like there’s no tomorrow because if you don’t, there probably won’t be.”

— Johnny Perez

Johnny became physically violent to fend off the gang members, and was thrown in solitary confinement for sixty days. At sixteen years old, he sat completely alone in a concrete room for two months.

“At 16 years old I couldn’t understand how I could be placed in a situation where I felt hopeless. My self-esteem was shot. I was angry at myself. I hated myself. I thought about committing suicide.”

— Johnny Perez

He recounts how the suicide prevention aid he was provided belonged to the same gang as the fellow detainee that he fought. The staff member tortured him when he was on duty, depriving him of food. Violence by Department of Corrections staff against detainees rose every year from 2008 to 2014. Johnny couldn’t understand that the same people that were sworn to protect him from harm would actually allow it to happen.

“You’re either the prey or the person who’s being preyed on. I learned that if I was going to survive, I would have to speak the language of Riker’s Island,” he stated. “The universal language of Riker’s Island is violence.”

— Johnny Perez

In the recently released Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform Executive Summary, it is stated,

“All 27 members came together behind a vision for a criminal justice system in New York City that embodies the civic values of liberty, equality, dignity, justice, and public safety. Central to this vision is the primary recommendation of the Commission: Rikers Island must be closed. The Commission has concluded that shuttering Rikers Island is an essential step toward building a more just New York City. Refurbishing Rikers is not enough. Our current approach to incarceration is broken and must be replaced. Acknowledging this, the Commission recommends permanently ending the use of Rikers Island as a jail facility.”

Read the commission’s full report to learn why it’s important to close Rikers Island now.

While progress is being made, 10 years is too long. Justice for people like Johnny cannot wait.

On April 24th, the #CLOSERIKERS campaign is hosting a Rally on the Steps of City Hall. The rally will take place between 10:30am-12:00pm. We urge you to join in the efforts to close Rikers faster. Do your part to end the violence and suffering. Join the #CloseRikers campaign and take action.

Support Mass Story Lab’s #MSLSpring25 Fundraising drive and help us raise $25,000 to travel to more communities grappling with the impact of mass incarceration.

By Claire Zager, Mass Story Lab intern

Raise The Age

Words such as violence, corruption, brutality, and abuse only begin to describe the experiences of those incarcerated in New York City’s main jail complex, Rikers Island. While the experience of anyone who has been incarcerated at Rikers is no doubt horrific, what is more unsettling is the fact that amongst the imprisoned are children. New York and North Carolina are the only two states that prosecute all youths 16 years of age and older as adults. Adolescent brains, however, are still developing and highly receptive to change. Since their cognitive skills are continuing to develop, their decisions are often impulsive but they’re likely to grow out of negative behaviors. For youth, Rikers can do serious damage long term. More disturbing? Youth are 36 times more likely to commit suicide in an adult facility than a juvenile facility. It is time to raise the age.

In June 2016, we held a Mass Story Lab here in New York City with storytellers all previously incarcerated at Rikers. Storyteller Vidal Guzman was 16 years old when he was arrested and sent to Rikers complex. He expressed that his time on Rikers Island was full of violence and suffering.

““When I had to wake up, my first routine was do pushups, get ready to fight,” he says. “I was scared everyday but I couldn’t show that to anybody else. Not my mom, not my friends, not people that I’m incarcerated with, because if they see that, then I’m a target. I felt like I was an animal. [….] I was just trying to get home to my family.” ”

— Vidal Guzman

Vidal Guzman speaking at the Rikers Mass Story Lab

Vidal described his life after his release, where he recounts having violent nightmares, not knowing where he was, and hurting himself in his sleep. The trauma that surfaced incredibly challenging for him and his family.

““Being home didn’t feel so real. Waking up with my hands hurting from all the fights I had [while asleep]. For the first two weeks, I didn’t really look in the mirror because I got used to black and blues. Now that I’m free, I’m trying to get my mind back to society. But how could I when every time I closed my eyes I felt like someone would attack me? Jail made me not trust anybody. Not even my own best friends. It made me into a new human being, one that people disliked. It’s like jail made something different. I didn’t even know my own self. Jail destroyed my mind, body and soul.” ”

— Vidal Guzman

This is an unfortunate example of what is likely to happen when youth are sentenced as adults. When they are incarcerated in adult facilities, they’re more likely to suffer physical and emotional abuse, and don’t have access to age-appropriate rehabilitation services. Additionally, more than 600 children aged 13-15 are processed in adult criminal courts, taking a devastating toll on their futures. This is unacceptable, and action must be taken.

We must raise the age for justice to be achieved for young people such as Vidal in the criminal justice system. To take immediate action, call New York’s Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan (631-361-2157), Senate Independent Democratic Conference Leader Jeffrey Klein (718-822-2049), Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (718-654-6539) and Governor Andrew Cuomo (518-474-8390) and make your voice heard. You can also send letters to representatives here: http://www.cccnewyork.org/actions/help-protect-public-safety-raise-the-age/. For more information about the #RaiseTheAgeNY campaign, check out http://raisetheageny.com/. You can follow the conversation and discover ways to get involved in real time by following @RaiseTheAgeNY on Twitter.

Additionally, we urge you to get involved in our efforts to close Rikers by donating to our partners, JustleadershipUSA’s #closeRikers campaign. To learn more about JustleadershipUSA’s efforts, check out www.closerikers.org and visit www.MassStoryLab.com to find out how you can help us bring Mass Story Labs to 10 communities in 2017.

By Claire Zager, Mass Story Lab intern

In Texas, A Daughter Tells the Painful Story of Her Father's Detainment

Not two weeks since Donald Trump’s inauguration and the damage has already begun. Via executive order, he issued an immigration ban causing chaos and protests worldwide. This order bans roughly 218 million people from entering the United States and halts admission of refugees. In addition to this ban, Trump has future plans to triple the number of ICE officers, detain and deport all immigrants, and build the infamous wall, among many other horrifying promises that will have devastating effects on immigrants and inevitably the prevalence of immigration detention.

Silvia Zuvietta-Rodriguez, Mass Story: The Texas Incarceration Maze

In October of 2016, we traveled to Austin, TX to explore the intersections of mass incarceration and mass detention. Immigration detention is the fastest growing form of incarceration in the United States, referring to the incarceration of immigrants while they await a determination of their immigration status or potential deportation. Texas is at the center of the expansion, as well as where for-profit detention centers got their start. Home to at least thirty privately operated facilities, it was a prime location to host a Mass Story Lab. Six storytellers recounted their experiences of how they were affected by incarceration and immigration detention in Spanish and English. Separation from family and harsh conditions was a common theme in their stories, revealing inhumanity and corrupt motives within the immigration detention system.

Seventeen-year-old Silvia Zuvieta-Rodriguez shared the story of her father’s detainment and eventual deportation. She spoke of the man behind his offence; how hard he worked, his crooked smile, and the way he would comfort her when she cried. Among her words of tribute, she emphasizes that she doesn’t even remember what he did. He was always her father first, never a criminal to her.

"It doesn't matter what was on [my father's] record,” she states. “That does not matter. We don't see the people behind… this thing that…. And I hate using the word criminal… we just see that title. We don't see the person behind it. The beauty. It doesn't matter what they did. We don't see the family. This man was an amazing man." -Silvia Zuvietta-Rodriguez 

Silvia recounts that her father’s detainment pushed her into a severe depression, eventual suicide attempt, and psychiatric hospitalization. Once she was released from the hospital, she discovered that her father had been deported, and she didn’t get that chance to say goodbye. She expresses that ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) tore her family apart.

Sadly, stories like Silvia’s are all too common. Many immigrants are ripped from their homes and placed in detention facilities. Families are broken, many of them without the ability to see their loved ones while detained. If families are able to visit, they find themselves on two sides of glass, unable to touch. Wait time can be years, and it is very rare that immigrants inside holding centers are not deported.

Among her powerful story, she shares some wise words: "I'm not defined by the best thing I've ever done. I'm not defined by the worst thing. So how come the only people that are, are the people with a criminal record? Most of us, whether we want to admit it or not, have done something that has been against the law. But we don't get punished in the way immigrants do. They're separated from their families. We don't see that. We don't think of that. We don't think that immigrants have something to lose." –Silvia Zuvieta-Rodriguez

In light of the recent inauguration of Donald Trump, action is more important now than ever. We urge you to donate to our Austin, TX partners Grassroots Leadership, continue to protest, and contact your elected officials. We can create justice for families like Silvia’s.

On Feb 4th, Mass Story Lab travels to Miami, Florida to continue amplifying the stories of people surviving at the intersections of incarceration and immigrant detention.

Visit www.MassStoryLab.com to find out how you can help us bring Mass Story Labs to 10 communities in 2017.

By Claire Zager, Mass Story Lab Intern