JAC joins NOW-NYC, Sanctuary for Families, SRLP, Brooklyn Defenders, The Prisoners Rights Project, the Urban Justice Center, Survivors, Advocates and Attornies to #EndRapeonRikers
Survivor Xena Grandicelli MC's the rally. New Yorkers, survivors of sexual violence, women’s rights advocates, students, jail reform advocates, transgender and gender non-conforming advocates, abolitionist organizers, and other community members and leaders rally on the steps of City Hall and held a press conference urging city officials to implement a sound harm-reduction policy that incorporates evidence-based community practices into our city jails and Rikers for the treatment of trauma survivors and to call attention to the parity between the Hunting Grounds of our Academic institutions and the Stocked Fish Ponds of our Penal institutions in America. In both instances the complaint, investigative, and punitive systems a survivor is forced to depend on for “justice” are constructed to maintain the integrity of the institution: NOT to deliver any semblance of normalcy, restoration, or relief to the survivor.
WHO: Survivors of sexual violence, women’s rights advocates, students, jail reform advocates, transgender and gender non-conforming advocates, abolitionist organizers, and other community members and leaders.
There is an ongoing and spiraling crisis of sexual assault being waged on detainees and visitors to Rikers Island. This has been revealed by news accounts as well as by the U.S. Department of Justice. The vast majority of women in correctional facilities have been victims of violence prior to their incarceration including domestic violence, rape, sexual assault, and child abuse. With approximately 95% of the affected population returning to the communities after serving their sentences, this is an issue society cannot afford to ignore.