After another death on Rikers Island, protesters hold a rally at Foley Square on July 18.
Photo by Dean Moses
Former Rikers Island inmates and their supporters rallied against the latest death in the penal facility on Tuesday as the feds look to wrest control of the city jail away from the Adams administration.
The mayor’s control of Rikers Island appears to be in jeopardy after the death of 47-year-old William Johnstone, who was found unresponsive in his cell Saturday and was later pronounced dead — adding to the outrage over the condition of the facility. The exact cause of Johnson’s death has yet to be revealed.
Advocates, family members, and former inmates went as far as to call the jail a death camp during a protest that took place on Foley Square in Lower Manhattan on July 18. Organized by the Jails Action Coalition, demonstrators stood in the pouring rain and held up the names of those who have lost their lives behind bars.
Attendees also demanded that the swelling inmate population be decarcerated. According to the city Comptroller’s office, on July 1, DOC jails held 6,081 people, 77 more people than on June 1.
“Brooklyn defender services is heartbroken over the death of William Johnstone, a 47-year-old-man, a human being who we have represented since March of this year. We are now at a crucial point where our demands for accountability have gone unanswered for too long,” Yung-Mi Lee, Johnstone’s attorney. “As defenders we have seen the devastation and harm caused by incarceration on Rikers Island.”
Johnstone’s death came days before U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York declared that he is seeking a court appointed receiver to take control of the troubled island, which he charged “has been in crisis for years.”
“Over several mayors’ administrations and leaders of the corrections system and he favors a court-appointed outside authority to take charge of the complex. But after eight years…
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