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Q&A
Connecting Rikers closure to public safety
0:24:41
·
142 sec
Council Member Sandy Nurse asks how closing Rikers connects to public safety, and Jonathan Lippman explains the negative impact of Rikers on individuals and society.
- Lippman emphasizes that Rikers traumatizes people, leading to high recidivism rates
- He argues that the institution's culture and lack of proper support systems hurt public safety
- Lippman stresses the need for better mental health services, housing, and reentry programs
Sandy Nurse
0:24:41
We've got a handful of questions for you all, and I think if one of you could in the simplest terms help New Yorkers on the block understand how closing Rikers connects to their sense of public safety.
0:24:57
We know crime is down.
0:24:58
We know we put a lot of things in place, but how do you make that connection?
0:25:03
Why should New Yorkers be invested in this?
Jonathan Lippman
0:25:05
It's so clear to us that people who go into Rikers have the most traumatic experience of their lives.
0:25:13
They come back out into the community not fixed, helped, better, healed.
0:25:21
They come back traumatized and in a state of confusion, unable to be reabsorbed into society.
0:25:31
Recidivism coming out of Rikers is sky high because what happens there defies what a penal institution should do.
0:25:43
You know, penal institutions aren't just about punishment and the culture at Rikers.
0:25:51
What we train the officers to do, what we think is the purpose of that horrible place is wrong to begin with.
0:26:00
And the whole culture has to change because you don't help public safety, You hurt public safety when you have an institution like that that hurts people.
0:26:11
That doesn't again, it's not designed to help them come back into society.
0:26:17
Whether it's the programs that exist there, whether it's the programs that exist after they get out, whether it's the failure to be in sync with mental health institutions, with psychiatric services, with housing.
0:26:34
It's made to hurt public safety.
0:26:37
It's the worst thing we possibly have in this city when you talk about the safety of the people on the streets, to have people go in and out of Rikers, never be helped, and again wind up being a scourge and a burden on society when they're just human beings.
0:26:55
They had a little assistance.
0:26:58
They could lead useful and meaningful lives.
0:27:01
Anyone want add to that about public
Sandy Nurse
0:27:03
safety Just because we got a long list, so I think you made the case very well.