"Brandon Rodriguez is yet another New Yorker to lose their life on Rikers Island - I pray for peace and comfort for his family. Without a trial, he received a death sentence - a sentence also suffered by Robert Jackson, Jose Mejia Martinez, and too many others in just the last few months. We need a thorough investigation of these incidents, and we need transformational change of the systems that tacitly and overtly permit it.
"As we move forward efforts to close Rikers and decarcerate across the city, that work must be paired with a focus on maintaining humane conditions for people who are incarcerated. It has long been clear that mismanagement, misplaced priorities, and missing resources have created an environment that harms both corrections staff and incarcerated individuals, an environment in which humanity and health of those inside are disregarded, with too often tragic results."