Mark your calendar to join us August 31, 2026 to mark one year from the legal deadline to Close Rikers! August 31, 2026 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM Outside City Hall, Broadway Gate [across from 250 Broadway] RSVP --> bit.ly/831closerikers #CloseRikers
Darren Mack
@iamdarrenmack.bsky.social
Same fight, different round. Organizer | Bibliophile | Basquiat Enthusiast | (he/him) views are my own
Mumia Abu-Jamal is approaching the 45th anniversary of his incarceration. Today, he took his claim of arbitrary imprisonment for a crime he did not commit to a new tribunal: the United Nations. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Imprisoned writer Mumia Abu-Jamal seeks UN intervention after 44 years behind bars
The former Black Panther’s lawyers ask a UN panel to review his detention after US legal avenues were exhausted
theguardian.com
Our Co-Director Darren Mack joined @news12bx.bsky.social Power & Politics, alongside Michael Higgins of @nycejalliance.bsky.social, to discuss recent jail closures at Rikers Island, and key next steps to #CloseRikers and implement the #RenewableRikers vision. longisland.news12.com/2026/07/26/p...
Power & Politics: NYC Department of Corrections transfers land on Rikers Island; Mayor Mamdani announces new president of EDC
Leader of the Renewable Rikers Coalition Michael Higgins, Darren Mack, of the Freedom Agenda, and Tom Grech, of the Queens Chamber of Commerce, join the show this week.
longisland.news12.com
We’re so grassroots even the Co-Directors be on the ground in the hood working and not only behind a desk.
THANK YOU to @mayor.nyc.gov for moving New York forward to end the monstrosity that is Rikers by transferring NIC and parts of AMKC and GMDC by the mandated deadline. Today, NIC, AMKC, and GMDC. Next up, the rest of Rikers Island! #CloseRikers #RenewableRikers
FY2027 budget includes ✅Increased funding for community-based mental health care ❌No new cops Grateful to @nycprogressives.bsky.social for their ongoing partnership in advocating for the Crisis to Care platform & investing in what works! #CloseRikers #CareNotCops council.nyc.gov/press/2026/0...
We are glad to see this position filled and ready to work together to address the shameful inequities in NYC's criminal legal system that leave thousands of our neighbors languishing on Rikers - before a conviction - because they can't pay for their freedom. #CloseRikers www.nyc.gov/mayors-offic...
Mayor Mamdani Announces Justine Olderman as Criminal Justice Coordinator
nyc.gov
Thanks again to our friends with Radical Evolution Theater for joining us at Tuesday's rally for a #CloseRikers budget, and for even writing a song for the occasion, Rikers Is a Ripoff! #NYCBudget #2026Budget
"The conversation about closing Rikers is no longer a question of whether change is needed. The question is whether we have the courage to invest in solutions that save lives and strengthen communities." - Samantha Becerra @providenceNY #CloseRikers www.amny.com/law/nyc-budg...
NYC budget: Mamdani and City Council urged to boost funding for jail alternatives to reduce Rikers Island population, prep for closure | amNewYork
Advocates and City Council members seeking to get the city moving on closing Rikers Island say Mayor Zohran Mamdani needs to allocate tens of millions more in
amny.com
Rikers is the most expensive and least effective tool our city has to create safety. 📢 JOIN US NEXT TUESDAY, June 2 as we rally before the City Council hearing on criminal justice to demand a budget that will get Rikers closed! RSVP: bit.ly/62closerikers #CloseRikers
Again, please share. In every aspect of American history you will run smack dab into the critical contributions of Black people. It’s not Black history. It’s American history. Trying to erase it is a fool’s errand. We live it every day. time.com/5836444/blac...
The Forgotten Black History of How Memorial Day Started
Historians like the Pulitzer Prize winner David Blight have tried to raise awareness of freed slaves who decorated soldiers' graves in 1865
time.com
We’re glad to have a mayor who recognizes the need to close #Rikers, and we look forward to a budget that reflects that. Listen to American on Trial, Inc. Executive Director Vidal Guzman share how he would... #CloseRikers #CareNotCriminalization #NYCBudget
Rikers is the most expensive and least effective tool our city has to create safety. 📢 JOIN US Tuesday, June 2 as we rally before the City Council hearing on criminal justice to demand a budget that will get Rikers closed! RSVP: bit.ly/62closerikers #CloseRikers #NYCBudget
STATEMENT from Freedom Agenda Co-Director Darren Mack on the fourth death in DOC custody this year
"Our jail system operates four times less efficiently than most others....while programs that actually deliver safety remain underfunded. Rightsizing DOC by reducing vacancies is the kind of structural correction the moment demands, where justice meets fiscal sense." #CloseRikers
New York Daily News @nydailynews.com · 3mo agoOPINION | A new era calls for rethinking Rikers spending
Garrett Felber will be traveling in May and June to share 𝘐 𝘊𝘢𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘚𝘶𝘣𝘮𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘐𝘯𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴: 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯 𝘚𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦. These texts represent decades of Sostre’s work as an agitator, teacher, and intellectual. Join us in Oakland, Portland, Toronto, Buffalo, Brooklyn and Baltimore!
For decades, DOC's budget has kept growing while the number of people in jail shrank. We commend Mayor Mamdani for taking this first step to reign in DOC's bloated budget, as New York City prepares to #CloseRikers.
KAPWANI KIWANGA: BLEED March 11, 2026–April 1, 2027 www.studiomuseum.org/exhibitions/...
Kapwani Kiwanga: BLEED
BLEED is a new site-specific commission by French and Canadian multimedia artist Kapwani Kiwanga. Installed in the Museum’s second-floor project gallery and on view from March 13, 2026, until April 1,...
studiomuseum.org
A new work for the New Museum’s facade by Tschabalala Self explores connection and romance through the lens of architecture and public space. www.newmuseum.org/exhibition/f...
newmuseum.org
The Bishop Gallery proudly announces the opening of Our Friend, Jean: Early Works of Jean-Michel Basquiat, a landmark exhibition returning Jean-Michel Basquiat’s earliest works to his hometown - Brooklyn. thebishopgallery.com/our-friend-j...
OUR FRIEND, JEAN - The Bishop Gallery
By Artist
thebishopgallery.com
Radical bookstores don’t just sell books. In Chicago, Baltimore, and beyond, they host book clubs, training sessions, meetings, jail support work, and organizing that can shape entire movements. New from @leftiecowboy.bsky.social
Radical Booksellers Do More Than Just Retail
Bookstores fight for communities through activism, despite backlash.
inthesetimes.com
STATEMENT from the Campaign to #CloseRikers on the much-needed opening of outposted therapeutic housing units at Bellevue Hospital. We know these units will save lives, and we thank the @mayor.nyc.gov administration for prioritizing true community safety.
@mayor.nyc.gov has an opportunity to demonstrate that the city is enacting the plan to #CloseRikers in good faith by decommissioning AMKC, one of the largest, oldest, and most decrepit facilities at #Rikers now, so no one will ever be harmed there again. queenseagle.com/all/2026/4/6...
Advocates push city to revive long-ignored part of Rikers shutdown plan — Queens Daily Eagle
Advocates are urging the Mamdani administration to transfer a long-vacant Rikers Island jail facility out of Department of Correction control, saying the city must revive a jail decommissioning proces...
queenseagle.com
Statement from Freedom Agenda Co-Director @iamdarrenmack.bsky.social after another tragic death in DOC custody -- the second in less than one week. #CloseRikers
Here is what women inside Bedford Hills Correctional Facility — NY's largest women's prison — are reporting right now. Three people have died in four weeks. Two by suicide. @GovKathyHochul @NYSDOCCS must act. ⬇️ #Justice4BedfordHills → CTA: nhli.me/Justice4Bedford
Stand With the Women of Bedford Hills: Demand Accountability and Dignity
We are in the midst of a crisis at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, the largest women’s prison in New York, where there have been three deaths in roughly four weeks, two of them suicides. Incarc...
nhli.me
We’re glad to have a mayor who recognizes the need to close #Rikers, and we look forward to a budget that reflects that. Listen to Danajah Young with Youth Represent share how they would... #CloseRikers #CareNotCriminalization #NYCBudget
We’re glad to have a mayor who recognizes the need to close #Rikers, and we look forward to a budget that reflects that. Listen to Linda Smith @bronxconnect share how they would... #CloseRikers #CareNotCriminalization #NYCBudget
“We are thrilled to see Mayor Mamdani taking such a significant step so quickly toward closing the revolving door between jail and homelessness." - @iamdarrenmack.bsky.social on @mayor.nyc.gov's RFP for 190 units of Justice-Involved Supportive Housing #CloseRikers citylimits.org/nyc-looks-to...
NYC Looks to Expand Supportive Housing for New Yorkers Coming Out of Jail - City Limits
The city plans to open 190 new affordable units, paired with support services, for people who cycle between jail and homeless shelters.
citylimits.org
