Dartmouth Student Prison Initiative hosts virtual webinar, “The Crisis at Rikers Island: A Call to End Mass Incarceration”

2022-03-07T20:15:19-05:00March 1st, 2022|Press|

The Dartmouth

“Co-head of DSPI Esme Lee ’24, who organized the webinar, said that she reached out to The Freedom Agenda –– an advocacy group pursuing decarceration and investments in communities disrupted by punishment –– to see what DSPI could do on campus to advocate for the end to mass incarceration.”

Advocates press on for population reduction at Rikers

2022-03-07T14:21:02-05:00February 28th, 2022|Press|

NYN Media

“I was a teenager when I spent 19 months on Rikers Island, when the population was over 21,000. It was a crisis back then. Decades of lack of transparency, decades of lack of accountability contributed to the crisis. And the pandemic exacerbated the crisis. Jail guards not going to work exacerbated the crisis” said Darren Mack, formerly incarcerated activist and organizer at the Freedom Agenda."

Organizers are demanding release for people at Rikers Island after photos reveal gruesome conditions

2022-03-07T20:18:11-05:00February 25th, 2022|Press|

Prism

“Darren Mack, who is the co-director of Freedom Agenda, the leader of the coalition that forms the Campaign to Close Rikers, spent 19 months at Rikers when he was just 17 years old in 1992... 'Rikers is managed through terror, through brutality,' Mack said. 'The same thing that was plaguing  Rikers Island then is plaguing Rikers Island now.'”

“Those days are over” / “Esos días se terminaron”

2022-03-02T20:13:12-05:00February 24th, 2022|Press|

Manhattan Times

“The MTA rules the mayor plans to rely on are unlawful and discriminate against homeless New Yorkers,” [Peter] Malvan [of the Safety Net Project] said in a statement. “This approach is wrongheaded, and unlawful, and is a frightening path to criminalization. 

Brutality Against Homeless New Yorkers in the Name of Law & Order

2022-03-02T20:07:51-05:00February 23rd, 2022|Press|

The Indypendent

"We also speak with speak with Peter Malvan, who spent 32 years living as a homeless New Yorker. During that time, he lived in the subway systems, in shelters and in parks. And from 1991 to 2011, he worked jobs. Peter has now been housed for the past year and a half. He is the Vice President of Midnight Run and a homeless advocate with the Safety Net Project."

Woman Dies After Being Pushed Onto Subway Tracks in Times Square

2022-01-24T14:28:02-05:00January 15th, 2022|Press|

NY Times

“It’s a horrible tragedy, but that shouldn’t be a pretext for intensifying policing, which is where this will likely go,” said Craig Hughes, a supervising social worker at the Urban Justice Center. “The presence of more police doesn’t necessarily mean more safety, and for many homeless people, it means less safety.”

Advocates call on city to meet hunger striking detainees’ demands

2022-01-24T15:11:38-05:00January 14th, 2022|Press|

Queens Daily Eagle

“Darren Mack, the co-director of the Freedom Agenda, said that he worries the city will respond to the hunger strike the way New York State responded to striking incarcerated people at Attica Correctional Facility in 1971, an incident that led to the deaths of over 40 people, including 33 detainees.”