*****MEDIA ADVISORY*****

THE #CLOSErikers GROUP TO LAUNCH A CITYWIDE CAMPAIGN TO CLOSE RIKERS ISLAND BY HOLDING A RALLY ON THE STEPS OF CITY HALL—

OVER 50 NYC ORGANIZATIONS WILL DEMAND THAT MAYOR BILL de BLASIO CLOSE RIKERS ISLAND, REBUILD COMMUNITIES, AND FIX THE BROKEN NYC CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

WHO:

Glenn E. Martin, Founder and President, JustLeadershipUSA

Gbenga Akinnagbe, Actor (The Wire, 24, and Independence Day 2) and Activist

Anna, mother of a son detained on Rikers Island for five and a half years
WHERE:
New York City Hall (on the steps)
City Hall Park, New York, NY 10007

WHEN:
Thursday, April 14, 2016
10:00AM EST

WHAT:
In 2016, a growing citywide campaign, led by JustLeadershipUSA, in partnership with the Katal Center for Health, Equity, and Justice, formed to organize and advocate for the closure of Rikers Island, and shrinkage and decentralization of NYC’s jail system. On April 14, 2016 the #CLOSErikers campaign, which includes prison and jail reform advocates, civil rights lawyers, social service providers, religious leaders and New Yorkers directly impacted by Rikers, will demand that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio close the notorious Rikers Island jail complex.

The rally will take place on the steps of City Hall and will call attention to decades of violence and corruption, environmental dangers, and ineffective and expensive attempts at incremental reform that have left conditions of confinement unchanged. Speakers will include coalition members as well as a mother whose son is currently detained on Rikers Island and has served five and a half years there.

“Most New Yorkers do not realize that 85% of the people at Rikers Island have not been convicted of a crime and are simply too poor to make bail. A significant number of detainees are facing misdemeanors. As New Yorkers, we have ignored decades of human carnage at the hands of this facility and we must close it now. I am inspired by both the breadth and diversity of the organizations who have joined the #CLOSErikers Campaign,” said Glenn E. Martin, Founder and President of JustLeadershipUSA.

Glenn E. Martin was appointed to the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform; at the invitation of New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman. The commission will hold it’s first meeting on April 15th.

A full list of the 50 #CLOSErikers organizational members will be announced at the rally on April 14th. More information at: CLOSErikers.org

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PRESS CONTACT: Jacky Johnson, Communications Manager, JustLeadershipUSA: jacky@justleadershipusa.org.