REMARKS
Council Member Carlina Rivera introduces bills on death investigations and child visitation programs
0:07:23
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154 sec
Council Member Carlina Rivera presents two bills aimed at improving conditions and transparency in NYC correctional facilities. She discusses the high death rate at Rikers Island and emphasizes the need for reform in the criminal justice system.
- Intro 423 focuses on creating procedures for investigating and reporting deaths in custody, as well as improving transparency and accountability.
- Intro 420 aims to establish a program for child visitors to DOC facilities, recognizing the impact of parental incarceration on children.
- Rivera highlights the current issues with the visitation process, including long wait times and the need for borough-based jails to bring incarcerated individuals closer to their families.
Carlina Rivera
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Thank you, chair nurse, for the time, and also for your leadership on these issues.
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Since mayor Adams took office, 33 individuals have died on Rikers Island.
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Rikers is a terrible place to be and a horrible place to die.
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Too many New Yorkers are stuck in cycles of homelessness, incarceration, and violence.
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And for too long, criminal legal system has dehumanized people and focused unlocking people away instead of taking a more holistic and sustainable approach to public safety.
0:07:51
Today, I have 2 bills being heard before the committee.
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Again, I wanna thank the chair for the opportunity to deliver brief remarks and, again, for for your leadership and for all the advocates in the room for their work on criminal justice reform.
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1st, intro 423 will create procedures for the department to investigate and report on deaths, require public notification, return person items of the deceased person within 30 days and report on compassionate release.
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Following the release of the May 26 special report of the Nunez independent monitor, the Department of Correction announced it would abruptly end.
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The practice of notifying the public when an individual dies in the agency's custody.
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The report highlighted 5 alt life altering violent incidents on Rikers Island, including the death of Joshua Vias, who city officials said died of a heart attack, but an autopsy showed he had a fractured skull.
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We must have appropriate policies in place to ensure accountability and transparency.
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2nd, today we will hear introduction of 420, which will establish a program for child visitors to DOC Facilities to improve the visiting experience for children.
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About 114 children in the US will experience having a parent incarcerated, and this can be damaging and traumatic.
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We must do all we can to strengthen familial bonds and facilitate a health the visiting experience for children.
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People have tried to change his policy since the nineties.
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And in 2001, a federal judge dismissed a consent decree, and the visiting process had since severely deteriorated.
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For instance, it was recently in the news that a corrections officer saved a one year old from choking.
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This happened at 7:40 PM.
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Registration for visits ends at noon on Sundays.
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Meaning, this child was likely on Ryker's Island for at least 8 hours, and it doesn't even account for travel time.
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This also highlights why the administration must adhere to the law to create burrow based jails that will bring individuals closer to their family and community based programming providers I look forward to continuing work with colleagues, group creative, safer city for all, and I wanna thank the chair again for the time.
