Press Room

As the crisis on Rikers Island continues, with the federal monitor calling for the Department of Correction (DOC) to be held in contempt, the New York City Council will vote today on Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams' bill to provide transparency, accountability, and support for transgender New Yorkers held in city jails. The bill was unanimously approved by the Committee on Criminal Justice this morning.

The legislation, Intro 887-B, would require the DOC to regularly report on information related to individuals in custody whose gender identity is different from the sex assigned to the individual at birth, including, transgender, gender nonconforming, non-binary, or intersex individuals. The department would be required to report information regarding such individuals’ housing placements, denials of requests for housing that most closely aligns with a person’s gender identity, and involuntary transfers from housing most closely aligns with a person’s gender identity.

“In a space that is dangerous for people on both sides of the bars, transgender and gender non-conforming people face even greater threats and challenges,” said Public Advocate Jumaane D. Williams on the bill. “This legislation is designed to help ensure that TGNCNBI people are receiving the services and accommodations they are entitled to, and provide a metric for accountability when those needs are not met. TGNCNBI people deserve the same respect and dignity as their cisgender peers, and this is not negated when they are incarcerated. We have seen the tragic results of a failure to recognize and address this, and until DOC makes changes to ensure that city jails are safe for everyone, we will continue to lose valuable members of our communities.”

Nearly one in six transgender, gender non-conforming, non-binary, and intersex (TGNCNBI) people has been to prison. Too often, departments of correction do not house TGNCNBI people in populations consistent with their gender identities, and instead isolate them or place them in housing units according to the sex they were assigned at birth, regardless of whether that aligns with their gender identity or if they have medically transitioned. In part because of this, TGNCNBI people are far more likely to be victims of physical, sexual, and verbal abuse while incarcerated.

Before the vote, the Public Advocate specifically highlighted a current case in which a public defender with seven clients on Rikers who are transgender women placed in men's housing units. All remain in those units despite the efforts of the attorney and the fact that the women have been repeatedly sexually and physically assaulted. He called for the administration to immediately transfer them to gender-aligned housing and noted that "Failure to do so signals to all DOC staff that their failure to assign individuals to requested gender-aligned housing—and the violence that comes as a consequence—is an acceptable practice."

Since its inception, the Department of Correction’s LGBTQ+ Affairs Unit has made genuine improvements for LGBT and TGNC New Yorkers incarcerated on Rikers Island, creating safe housing and recreation spaces behind bars. Unfortunately, over the past year and under a new administration, the unit has reportedly been weakened. Trans women have struggled to transfer out of male facilities, where they can face relentless sexual harassment and assault. According to an August report by a Board of Correction task force, of the 41 people whose gender identities the task force knew, 63 percent were in housing misaligned with their gender identities, including 58 percent of trans women and 100 percent of trans men.

Arguably the most well-known example of the abuse and disrespect experienced by TGNCNBI people incarcerated at Rikers is the tragic 2019 death of Layleen Polanco, a transgender woman whom DOC refused to house in general population with cisgender women, who died alone in solitary confinement despite her known history of seizures. In addition to today’s legislation, the Public Advocate is the lead sponsor of Intro 549, which would ban solitary confinement in city jails.

After releasing 'Orange Sky, Red Alert' – a report on the city’s response to the air quality emergencies– the Public Advocate spoke at a City Council oversight hearing today on the same topic. He released the following statement after questioning NYC Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol about the administration’s actions.

“The Adams administration seems to be the only people in New York who believe that their response to the city’s air quality emergency was appropriate given the information we had and the hazards we faced. Their consistent refusal to admit errors or inadequacies can prevent reforms that would better inform and protect New Yorkers. 

We all agree that the air quality was ultimately worse than was forecasted. That is not an excuse for failure to inform New Yorkers in advance about the potential for unhealthy air and precautions they could take. Additionally, the commissioner repeatedly insisted that the forecasted quality only endangered “sensitive groups” – yet failed to provide any evidence that these groups, or the city at large, was made aware of this danger. New Yorkers had little knowledge, context, or protections before the sky burned orange, because the administration had not proactively primed the public with information as it would with any other climate hazard.  

My office’s report lays out a series of recommendations for practices and protections moving forward, and I would be eager to partner with the administration to implement them. In fact, the second time the air quality deteriorated, the city’s response was more proactive. But in order for government to work together to address problems, we have to be ready to admit that those problems exist.”

Video of the Council hearing is available here. The Public Advocate Advocate's opening statement begins at 00:10:21, and his discussion with Commissioner Zach Iscol begins at 01:11:12. The full opening statement as delivered is below, and Orange Sky, Red Alert can be downloaded here.

TESTIMONY OF PUBLIC ADVOCATE JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS TO THE NEW YORK CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEES ON HEALTH, OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS, AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, RESILIENCY AND WATERFRONTS

JULY 12, 2023

Good morning, 

My name is Jumaane D. Williams, and I am the Public Advocate for the City of New York. I would like to thank Chairs Schulman, Brewer and Gennaro and the members of the Committees on Health, Oversight and Investigations and Environmental Protection, Resiliency and Waterfronts for holding this important hearing. 

Just four weeks ago, our city faced an unprecedented air quality crisis when smoke from over 400 wildfires in Canada were pushed into our city. Unlike our West Coast sister cities, who routinely deal with wildfire smoke and its harmful effects due to drought and long wildfire seasons, New Yorkers were not prepared for the poor air quality that arose during the week of June 4th. The COVID-19 pandemic should have prepared us in delivering speedy communication around this issue; instead, the failure to prepare and respond to this event was not only a failure at the city level but at all levels of government. 

Over the past few weeks, my office has been corresponding with officials from West Coast municipalities like Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and San Diego, gathering best practices and resources on how New York City can best respond to this crisis when it arises in the future. As we’ve seen over these past few weeks, with a mere shift of the wind, wildfire smoke has the ability to impact New Yorkers’ daily life and we must be prepared to meet those instances as they arise. From these conversations, we compiled a list of recommendations, which can be read in our report “Orange Sky, Red Alert”, that we urge our city and state partners to implement in order to proactively respond to these air quality issues as they arise. This report also finds shortcomings in the city’s response to the air quality emergency, and particularly the lack of speed and scope of our public notification system and hazard mitigation efforts.

As we’ve seen, climate change is rapidly reshaping natural hazards at an alarming rate of pace and it will not wait for us to be prepared. But it is no longer enough to reflect and develop plans for what we’ve already encountered thus far, we must also anticipate and prepare for the unforeseen in order to keep our city safe and healthy.

I do want to just say, notwithstanding the mayor’s comments that folks are criticizing just to criticize – nothing could be further from the truth – it is part of my job to review what the city is doing and make sure that we can do things better. 

I also just want to put out there – I don’t think there’s any way any of us could have been prepared for a sky on fire and how poor the air quality was at that time. What I have focused on is preparation, information, and communication, and it does seem that we were not prepared to communicate as effectively and accurately as we could have. I noticed in the op-ed that information was sent out, I think that is true. I just want to be clear that NotifyNYC is not the most effective way to put information out there. When the Yankee game happened the day before, we had reached levels of 200. And so they should have been more effective and more urgent to let people know how bad the air quality was at that time. When it is 200, it is starting to be dangerous for members of the general public, not just those with underlying conditions. 

During COVID, we saw press conferences daily that helped us back up our communications. I think had the mayor and commissioner done a press conference sooner, and really dug into how bad the air quality might be, we would have had a better chance to understand what to do when the sky caught on fire.

"I am glad to see the roles of NYCHA Chair and CEO filled, and to see them separated, which I hope will allow more effective focus on the monumental tasks each appointee faces. Nearly half a million New Yorkers have the city as their landlord, and as I have shown on each of my watchlists and in my 2022 report, their landlord is the worst in the city. Changing that reality will require major infusions of funding and major improvements in management, or the same patterns that have plagued NYCHA for decades will persist.

"For the sake of New Yorkers in NYCHA complexes across the five boroughs, I wish the CEO and Chair good luck in this new era, and hope to hear more about their specific priorities and areas of focus moving forward. As always, I will work with the Authority where we can collaborate to improve conditions, and will shine a spotlight on spaces where the city is consistently failing to meet the standards that NYCHA residents deserve."

"As the nation marks its Independence Day, I am reminded of the founding truths declared on that day, words which envision principles that we have never achieved in reality, words that from inception excluded so many. Yet at our country’s best, we have been defined by the pursuit of those ideals – at our worst, by the deliberate denial of liberty to people viewed as lesser by the wealthy white men who created a country that preserved their power and privilege.

"What has given hope and inspiration to so many aspiring Americans across centuries – including my mother, who arrived in New York City on the Fourth of July many decades ago – is the promise of freedom, and the knowledge that while flawed, we have always strived to move forward. Today, though, particularly in the aftermath of disastrous Supreme Court decisions, it feels as though we are moving backward, further from those lofty ideals raised with the flag.

"As a son of immigrants, as a Black man, as a public servant in the city where so many people first came to this country, and so many diverse communities shape our culture, I hope and will work to see a city and an America that fully embodies the values of justice, equity, and opportunity that we have long proclaimed but never fully exemplified, even if at inception it was never really intended. That is the America that gives hope."

"In New York and nationally, summer holiday weekends have become tragically synonymous with increases in gun violence. Shootings across the five boroughs – including one that struck a five year old and another that killed a 15 year old – compound with mass shootings like we saw in Baltimore. Violence rates may be decreasing generally in New York City, but those trends mean nothing to people grieving tragedy.

"The expectation of gun violence cannot lead to its normalization. Instead, it must spur us to provide additional preventative resources, on these days and year round. The Fourth of July is taken as a day to recognize America – and we should recognize it as a call to address the uniquely American tragedy of gun violence."

"This administration constantly declares public safety to be its priority. In my State of the People Address, I made the case that a budget which cuts, rather than expands, city services, one that prioritizes spending on policing above all other efforts, would be a threat to public safety. That budget was just adopted.

"Constant talk of cuts throughout this budget process obscured the fact that the NYPD has been more insulated than other agencies. In the same cycle, while Crisis Management System funding increased, a long-stalled youth mentorship program to prevent gun violence remains unimplemented, a gun violence plan promised for over a year remains unseen, and restorative services on Rikers remain underfunded. Even beyond that conception of what public safety is, lack of adequate investment in other areas will contribute to a long-term lack of sustainable safety in our streets. 

"The budget may be finalized, but the work is far from done – and I hope the administration will commit to supporting systems of true public safety moving forward."