They’ll rattle Andy’s cage
‘Shut Rikers’ group vows to hound him
ALBANY — A prison reform group that has hounded Mayor de Blasio to shut down Rikers Island is now setting its sights on Gov. Cuomo.
“We’ve given the governor a pass the last year and a half and allowed him to spend time poking the mayor publicly on the issue of Rikers and suggesting he supports closure,” said Glenn Martin, founder of the Closerikers campaign. “We think it’s time to hold him to his words.”
Martin says fast-tracking the closure of the massive city jail complex will only happen if Cuomo and state lawmakers help reduce inmate population by passing bail, discovery and speedy trial reforms.
“While the mayor is the decisionmaker about closing Rikers, many of the policies that can help shrink the number of people there more quickly reside with the governor and the state Legislature,” Martin said.
To pressure Cuomo, Closerikers will use many of the same tactics it employed against the mayor, including showing up outside fund-raisers and at his house, following him out of state, social media outreach, ads, grass-roots organization, and the targeting of top donors.
With de Blasio, they even went to his Brooklyn gym, where they caught him working out in cargo shorts.
“We have a tool belt of tactics we can use,” Martin said.
De Blasio has said he wants to see Rikers closed within 10 years. Cuomo has said that’s not soon enough and would prefer something done within three years.
“This governor and the mayor of New York City have taken political jabs at each other and at the same time, even on an issue like this, neither has shown the willingness to put muscle behind the positions they have taken,” Martin said.
Cuomo chief counsel Alphonso David responded by saying, “Some advocates are simply late to this issue.”
David said Cuomo took up the Rikers fight this past year, “and we plan to advance it and double down this year.”
He cited criminal justice reforms under Cuomo, including the closure of 24 state prisons, the raising of the age at which youths can be charged with a crime, prioritizing community reentry programs, and helping pass laws allowing identification photo arrays at trial and videotaping of police interrogations.
“His record on criminal justice reform is incredibly strong and — unless some advocates are only interested in grandstanding — they should join us and focus on those in need of convincing,” David said.
Martin maintains Cuomo hasn’t done enough for reforms.
“This governor is good at making public statements, but you can’t be the emperor and make a statement about closing Rikers and not realize you need to use your political power to make it happen,” he said. Martin also said “we as an organization run the risk of alienating ourselves from the governor’s good graces . . . but I don’t care. I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to save lives. If the governor sees us as opposition, but at the same time feels pressure to
act, that’s fine.”