PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Ashley Santiago, Community Organizer from Freedom Agenda, on Visitation Issues at Rikers Island
3:34:48
·
3 min
Ashley Santiago, a community organizer for Freedom Agenda, testifies in support of Intros 420, 1023, and 1026, sharing personal experiences of visiting Rikers Island. She describes the challenges and indignities faced by visitors, including long wait times, invasive security procedures, and frequent disappointments.
- Detailed the visitation process, including arriving at 7 AM, enduring outdoor waits, and going through extensive security checks
- Highlighted specific issues such as guards yelling at young children and forcing a 3-year-old to shake out her diaper
- Emphasized problems with communication, including instances where visits were cancelled without notice or detainees were not brought down for scheduled visits
Ashley Santiago
3:34:48
Good afternoon to your nurse.
3:34:50
I wanna say thank you the council members for holding this hearing and allowing me to express my support for intros 420, 1023, and intro 1026.
3:34:59
My name is Ashley Santiago, and I'm testifying on behalf of Freedom Agenda as a community organizer and a member of the campaign to close record.
3:35:06
Also as a native New Yorker who has made many painful visits to rikers.
3:35:10
Many of you has been diagnosed with develop developmental disabilities, autism, and disruptive mood disregulation disorder, satan rikers Island for two and a half years and dire need of mental health care and healing.
3:35:22
During that time, my family made it as much as a priority to dedicate large chunks of our day to head over that horror bridge to bring some joints to his day and summon so ours.
3:35:31
As long periods without getting to see him bothered our souls, A Saturday's a Saturday visitation process consisted of arriving at 7 AM, waiting under that hell of a bus shelter to take us over the bridge.
3:35:43
The day starts with loads of rules immediately, waiting outdoors while papers are being thrown at you to fill out, while you're also trying to maneuver to take off your shoes, put things in a locker, and go through metal detectors.
3:35:55
Not to mention having your fingerprint scanned and trace for drugs.
3:35:59
Let me now forget that the visitation protocol was always on the visitors to look up on our own before arriving.
3:36:05
Traveling to Rykers with my sister and bury 2 young nieces always made me the most frustrated.
3:36:10
Watching guards yell at my three year old niece to hurry up, not touch the canine dogs.
3:36:16
What did they say standstill, face the wall, I said face the wall, even forcing my three year old niece to shake out her diaper for drugs.
3:36:24
Finally, getting to the jail where my nephew was didn't mean we went straight into a visit with him.
3:36:30
Sometimes we'd be sitting at in NIC or GRVC from anywhere from 3 to 5 hours in a cramped airless waiting room just to see me.
3:36:39
I've watched my diabetic sister hold down as long as she could in hopes to see my nephew without her insulin or pump.
3:36:45
And mothers with newborn babies who would have to leave before even getting to their visit because their child needed to eat every couple of hours and no formula, no baby food is allowed.
3:36:55
No one's no one's time is taken seriously until that 1 hour visit is over, and all of us sudden, you hear the yellow guards.
3:37:01
That's it.
3:37:02
Visits over.
3:37:03
Hurry up if you wanna catch the the bus, the next bus, or the next bus won't be back for another 30 minutes, and you'll have to wait.
3:37:10
That's right.
3:37:11
A bus who has scored you literally across the street.
3:37:14
On some days, we'd go through this ordeal without seeing my nephew at all.
3:37:17
Many times, DOC would tell us my nephew didn't wanna come down.
3:37:20
And even when we when he knew we were coming and was waiting for our visit, we leave crush, and he would call us later upset that he waited, and DOC never came to get him.
3:37:29
Many days we also traveled all the way to to the island just to be told at the main entrance.
3:37:35
For example, if anyone is here for OBC, please turn back around.
3:37:39
The building is on lockdown, and they won't be getting any visitation.
3:37:42
Information that would have been helpful before we made the long trip there.
3:37:47
For hundreds of families tracking to Rikers Island every week, a visit should be brought joy.
3:37:52
Rikers shouldn't exist, and, yeah, I hope these bills can pass.
Sandy Nurse
3:37:55
Thank you so much.
