NYC Rally Calls for Release of Women Inmates at Rikers

“Say her name, not just his. Say her name, not just his. Say her name, that’s what it is.”

That was one of the many chants shouted at the entrance of the Rikers Island detention facility in New York Tuesday, when the Justice for Women Task Force, among other organizations and demonstrators, joined forces to protest conditions faced by women behind bars.

The protesters, who wore face masks, focused on the Rose M. Singer Center for female detainees, in an effort to spread awareness about what they say are the substandard conditions and abuse women detainees face, particularly in the midst of the COVID-19 outbreak.

With a special hashtag for the campaign– #WhatAboutHer—protesters said their principal goal was to win the release of all women held at the facility, and end the use of what Dara Baldwin, one of the group’s organizers,  described as the use of solitary confinement as a method of dealing with COVID at the Rose M. Singer Center.

“This is not an appropriate place for women to be during the COVID pandemic,” said Baldwin, who spoke via a Facebook link.

Although New York jails do not have 23-hour punitive segregation, and those confined to the most restrictive segregation have at least four hours of daily access to outdoor recreation, TV time and showers, women at Rikers have complained that solitary is being used a form of “isolation” during the pandemic.

The Rose M. Singer Center staff have also been accused of sexual abuse against inmates and retaliation against women who speak out.

In response to the protesters’ allegations, the New York Department of Correction (DOC) has issued the following statement:

We take the safety and well-being of those who work and live in our facilities seriously, and under this administration the Rose M. Singer Center has achieved significant milestones when it comes to improving safety, including becoming the first DOC facility in history to achieve compliance with the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).

We have also significantly reduced the use of punitive segregation not just at Rosie’s, but at all DOC facilities, and we have committed to exploring ways to safely eliminate its use altogether. 

Notable speakers at the rally included the founder and CEO of Brides for Life,  Darlene Jackson, who is running for city council from the Bronx; Ruth McDaniels, a Harlem-based candidate for New York City Council, Tahtianna Fermin, CEO and founder of Bridges4Life, and  former Rikers inmate Louisa Liverpool.

Read the full summary here.