“We need a mayor who knows that in a city committed to seeing all of us thrive, there is no place for Rikers Island.”

A rally calling for the closure of Rikers Island in 2023. (Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit)

It’s clear that New Yorkers want safety, and it will be important in this year’s mayoral election. But how can we tell which candidates are serious about safety, and which ones care more about stoking our fears than investing in what works?

To start with, any candidate who is not committed to closing Rikers is not serious about safety. Rikers Island is a violence incubator that detains legally innocent people largely on the basis of wealth. If that sounds exaggerated, consider that Anthony Martin Jr., a correction officer, is at liberty while he faces charges of raping a woman in Queens (he is also named in civil lawsuits by two incarcerated women), but 31-year-old Joshua Valles died after suffering a cracked skull at Rikers while facing non-violent felony charges. Joshua Valles couldn’t pay $10,000 for his freedom, but Anthony Martin paid his bail immediately. 

Rikers also wastes tremendous resources—over $2.8 billion dollars a year—that we desperately need for housing, healthcare, education, and other resources that strengthen our communities. 

Maybe worst of all, Rikers is a place to hide our city’s problems rather than solving them, with the terrible effect of making these problems worse. When people with mental health needs are sent to Rikers (as thousands are each year), they are disconnected from any community-based care they’re receiving, and subjected to practices like “deadlocking.”

The thousands of people admitted to Rikers each year who are homeless can lose their spot on the waitlist for supportive housing. People who have stable housing can lose that too, along with their jobs, during even a short jail stay. 

It’s not surprising then that being detained at Rikers actually increases the likelihood that a person will be re-arrested. On average, 33 percent of people released from Rikers return within one year, compared to alternative-to-incarceration programs like Bronx Connect, which sees 97 percent of graduates with no new felony convictions after three years, or Justice Involved Supportive Housing, which has substantially reduced jail and shelter stays for the lucky few who’ve been able to get one of these units. 

Anyone who is serious about safety should be telling voters that they will fund more Intensive Mobile Treatment teams for the hundreds of people who have qualified for them but are waiting for a placement; that they will ensure that everyone who needs supportive housing can get it; and that they will fund and encourage judges to make better use of New York’s highly-effective network of alternative to incarceration programs—all of which operate at less than one-tenth the per-person cost of Rikers.

Voters should be skeptical of any candidate who won’t fully commit to these proven solutions, but will rail against “recidivism” and pledge to arrest more people who have spiraled into crisis while waiting to access services.

While Rikers should have closed long ago, avoidable delays have put the borough-based jails to replace it far behind schedule. Still, there are actions the next mayor can, and must, take to shorten this timeline. The Independent Rikers Commission identified ways to speed up jail construction by at least a year, and candidates should commit to doing so.  

Infrastructure, however, is just one part of the close Rikers plan—shrinking the jail population is the other. Mayoral candidates should be telling us that they will bring down the jail population in alignment with the Close Rikers plan by August 31, 2027, regardless of whether the borough jails are finished. Doing that would enable the closure of several Rikers jails, even if some remain open while the borough jails are completed. Having fewer people in Rikers is also the surest and fastest way to prevent it from claiming more of our neighbors’ lives.

Finally, any candidate who says they will stand up to the Trump administration cannot share its disregard for constitutional rights. More than 80 percent of people at Rikers have not been convicted. Describing them as dangerous or guilty of anything before they’ve had their day in court is a page out of Trump’s playbook.

When NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch refers to people as “offenders,” “prisoners,” or “perps” based solely on an arrest, as she did in her State of the NYPD address, she displays either her lack of understanding of the legal system, or her contempt for the presumption of innocence that is at its foundation. Either one should be a red flag to all New Yorkers, and to any candidate considering keeping her on as commissioner. 

The truth is that the dehumanization of people held at Rikers starts far before they cross the “Bridge of Pain.” It starts in our communities, where we are denied the resources we deserve and then punished in our struggle to survive, and it continues in a court system that comfortably treats us as guilty because it presumes that our lives are of no importance anyways.

We need a mayor who knows that in a city committed to seeing all of us thrive, there is no place for Rikers Island.

Darren Mack is co-director of Freedom Agenda, and a survivor of Rikers. Melissa Mark-Viverito is the former Speaker of the New York City Council.

The post Opinion: NYC Needs a Mayor Who is Serious About Safety appeared first on City Limits.

By MARK SHERMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to hear the appeal of a former Louisiana prison inmate whose dreadlocks were cut off by prison guards in violation of his religious beliefs.

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The justices will review an appellate ruling that held that the former inmate, Damon Landor, could not sue prison officials for money damages under a federal law aimed at protecting prisoners’ religious rights.

Landor, an adherent of the Rastafari religion, even carried a copy of a ruling by the appeals court in another inmate’s case holding that cutting religious prisoners’ dreadlocks violates the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

Landor hadn’t cut his hair in nearly two decades when he entered Louisiana’s prison system in 2020 on a five-month sentence. At his first two stops, officials respected his beliefs. But things changed when he got to the Raymond Laborde Correctional Center in Cottonport, about 80 miles northwest of Baton Rouge, for the final three weeks of his term.

A prison guard took the copy of the ruling Landor carried and tossed it in the trash, according to court records. Then the warden ordered guards to cut his dreadlocks. While two guards restrained him, a third shaved his head to the scalp, the records show.

Landor sued after his release, but lower courts dismissed the case. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals lamented Landor’s treatment but said the law doesn’t allow him to hold prison officials liable for damages.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments in the fall.

Landor’s lawyers argue that the court should be guided by its decision in 2021 allowing Muslim men to sue over their inclusion on the FBI’s no-fly list under a sister statute, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

President Donald Trump’s Republican administration filed a brief supporting Landor’s right to sue and urged the court to hear the case.

Louisiana asked the justices to reject the appeal, even as it acknowledged Landor’s mistreatment.

Lawyers for the state wrote that “the state has amended its prison grooming policy to ensure that nothing like petitioner’s alleged experience can occur.”

The Rastafari faith is rooted in 1930s Jamaica, growing as a response by Black people to white colonial oppression. Its beliefs are a melding of Old Testament teachings and a desire to return to Africa. Its message was spread across the world in the 1970s by Jamaican music icons Bob Marley and Peter Tosh, two of the faith’s most famous exponents.

The case is Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections, 23-1197.

A Burnsville man with a laundry list of previous felony charges was sentenced to seven years in prison for defrauding a California electronics company, said acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson on Monday.

Thomas Thanh Phẩm, 53, also was ordered to pay more than $2.9 million in restitution.

“Fraudsters have flocked to Minnesota for far too long,” Thompson said in a statement. ““Pham is no exception. He is a serial fraudster who has demonstrated that he will not stop until he is stopped. Thanks to the hard work of law enforcement, for the next 84 months, Pham will be where he belongs — in prison.”

According to a press release, between 2019 and 2020, Pham defrauded a California based electronics manufacturing company out of more than $1.2 million by claiming he could broker multi-million dollar contracts for the business.

Pham asked the company to pay a “deposit bond” of $1,278,000. The company did so, believing it would receive millions of dollars for its repair services. As part of his ploy, Pham sent an initial delivery of 20 samples of electronic devices that supposedly needed repairs. The victim company did not know that the devices were stolen property.

When the victim company asked questions about the deal that was made, Pham did not deliver as promised and offered excuses. Although he had promised to keep the deposit in a refundable escrow account, Pham instead used the money.

Pham’s first criminal conviction was more than 32 years ago, Thompson said.

He has been convicted of the following:

• Felony Theft of Property, in which Pham unlawfully used a false identity in order to fraudulently purchase a $49,000 car.

• Felony False Statements for Property, in which Pham knowingly made false statements to fraudulently purchase a vehicle valued at more than $20,000.

• Felony Unlawful Possession of Fraudulent Identification, in which Pham knowingly possessed identification documents of a victim without permission for purposes of defrauding the victim.

• Felony Securing Execution of Document by Deception, in which Pham attempted to pass a forged check.

• Multiple felony check forgeries.

• Conspiracy to commit wire fraud, a federal fraud conviction in Texas in which Pham used the identities of victim companies to defraud victims out of $1.9 million by deceiving them into shipping high-dollar electronics and computers.

After the sentencing, the judge immediately remanded Pham into custody saying it “was too dangerous and too risky” to the public for Pham “to remain at liberty.”

This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI.

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A St. Paul’s man Friday night crime spree began with a carjacking in the Summit-University area and soon included a crash downtown, where he then tried to steal more cars at gunpoint, fired shots toward several others and pointed the weapon at two police officers, according to a 14-count criminal complaint filed Monday.

Eric Deonta Hill (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

The officers ordered Eric Deonta Hill to drop the gun, which he did, but then ran and was tackled to the ground and arrested. His silver Smith & Wesson five-shot revolver contained three spent shell casings and a live round of ammunition, the complaint says.

Hill, 36, remains at the Ramsey County jail in lieu of $5 million bail ahead of an initial court appearance Tuesday morning. An attorney for Hill is not listed in the court file.

The complaint

According to the complaint:

Officers were called to a carjacking about 9:20 p.m. Friday near the intersection of Avon Street and Selby Avenue.

A 20-year-old man said he was sitting in his 2014 Nissan Altima waiting for a friend when a man, later identified as Hill, opened the driver’s door and pulled up his t-shirt to display a dark-colored handgun.

Hill then pulled out the gun, pointed it at the man and told him to get out, which he did. Hill got in and drove off.

The man’s friend and his friend’s mother witnessed the carjacking.

Chain-reaction crash

Less than 10 minutes later, about 9:30 p.m., officers were sent to Kellogg Boulevard and Robert Street on a call involving an accident with injuries and shots fired.

The two St. Paul officers came upon the car crash in an unmarked squad car and saw Hill standing in traffic. As they drove toward Hill, he stepped to the side, raised a silver firearm and pointed it at the them, the complaint says. They stopped a short distance away and approached Hill, who was ordered to drop the handgun. After he dropped the gun and ran, one of the officers chased him down.

Hill appeared to be under the influence of drugs and was taken to a hospital for an evaluation. Officers obtained a blood sample from Hill following a search warrant.

Three vehicles were involved in a chain-reaction crash — a 2015 Infiniti QX60 was rear-ended by a 2020 Hyundai Kona, which was rear-ended by the stolen Nissan.

Officers spoke to a 39-year-old man who said he was driving the Infiniti for Lyft with five passengers and stopped at a red light when he was rear-ended. He said Hill got out of the Nissan with a silver handgun and pointed it at him, his passengers and at the driver of the Hyundai. Hill shouted at them to get out of their vehicles. They got out and ran. Hill looked into the Infiniti, grabbed phones and ran.

One of the Lyft passengers said Hill went up to a passenger side window and tapped on it with a silver revolver. When the passenger refused to get out, Hill fired a shot into the air.

Two people who had driven up to the crash in a Jeep Cherokee said Hill walked toward their SUV while pointing a silver handgun at them. Hill pulled the trigger twice, but no shots were fired, they told police. Hill pulled the trigger a third time, firing toward one of the victims and shattering the windshield. He pulled on the driver’s door handle before they sped away.

Officers found a second handgun and two spent casings inside the stolen Nissan. The Glock handgun, which had been reported stolen, was in slide-lock and its magazine was empty.

Caught on video

Downtown surveillance video caught the incident.

After crashing the stolen Nissan at a high rate of speed, Hill approached the Lyft driver’s side window while reaching into his waistband. He tried to open the driver’s door with his right arm extended and pointing. He got into the driver’s seat, before going to the Hyundai.

After a brief interaction at the Hyundai, Hill walked toward Kellogg Boulevard. He pointed the gun at a white SUV, which sped off. He pointed the gun at the Jeep and a muzzle flash appeared from his gun, followed by the windshield exploding.

Hill then approached the unmarked squad and raised the gun at it as it passed by.

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Hill pointed the gun at another SUV and tried opening its door before the driver sped away. Hill pointed the gun at a dark SUV, before he went out of camera view.

7 prior felony convictions

The Ramsey County Attorney’s Office charged Hill with two counts each of second-degree murder, attempted carjacking and possession of a firearm by an ineligible person; one count each of first-degree carjacking, first-degree attempted carjacking and first-degree aggravated robbery; and five counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.

Hill has seven prior felony convictions: three for possession of a firearm by an ineligible person; one each for second-degree assault involving a firearm, theft of oxycodone; and two for receiving stolen property.

At the time of Friday’s crime spree, Hill was wanted by the Minnesota Department of Corrections for absconding from his supervised release, according to the complaint.