Opinion: The Unending Urgency of Closing Rikers | City Limits

Those who have experienced Rikers — and are working to close it — feel increased urgency as the summer brings memories of sweltering heat in crumbling buildings with no central air.

Marvin Mayfield, a military veteran and #CLOSErikers leader who was incarcerated on Rikers and the Boat — a jail barge docked in the Bronx which he describes as a modern-day slave ship — recently testified to horrible conditions. “As the heat and humidity goes up, I’m reminded the cells on Rikers are so hot — that the walls sweat. There was no air. I had to lay on the floor naked, to suck a little bit of air from a slit on the floor, just to breathe. And people are still losing their lives on Rikers Island. How many more have to die before we shut it down? Justice delayed is justice denied.” Read more.