With Less Than 365 Days to Close Rikers Island, WPA Pushes for Critical Change 

The legal deadline to close Rikers is one year away. ⁠  

On August 31^st, WPA joined community partners and advocacy groups at the Countdown to Closing Rikers Day of Action. 

Organized by the Freedom Agenda, this Day of Action raised awareness of the horrible conditions at Rikers Island and the urgent need to advance decarceration in New York City. Our Interim CEO Luisa Taveras and former WPA participant and advocate Denina Roman spoke during the press conference:

When is Rikers Island Closing?

Rikers is legally mandated to close by August 31, 2027—but the city has fallen way behind. Reaching that deadline requires a dramatic reduction in the number of people incarcerated (now, over 6,000 people are detained at Rikers every day) and further investment in the communities most impacted by incarceration.  

The city must take immediate steps to decarcerate and divest from Rikers by: 

• releasing people ready to return to the community into stable housing 
• reducing a dependency on pretrial detention 
• investing in early diversion and alternatives to incarceration, redirecting people into community-based services after arrest 
• uplifting community-based organizations, like WPA, that help people find safe and stable housing, behavioral health care, and opportunities to stabilize and thrive

Investing in housing, treatment, and diversion is investing in public safety—addressing the root causes of incarceration and giving people the support they need to thrive in their communities. 

Expanding Community-Based Support for Women

The number of women detained at the Rose M. Singer Center (Rosie’s), the women’s jail at Rikers Island, is growing. Over the past five years, there has been a 67% increase in the population of incarcerated women and gender-expansive people, from 270 to over 450 women (Source: Data for Collaborative Justice).

About 85% of these women are being held pre–trial, meaning they have not been convicted of any crime. More than 85% are trauma survivors, and over 80% have received mental health care while incarcerated. The racial disparities are alarming—at WPA, 85% of the women we serve are Black or Latinx.  

Many of these women face unmet mental health needs, histories of trauma, housing instability, and barriers to employment. Often, they are mothers or primary caregivers, separated from their families and removed from their communities. 

To meet the urgent needs of women, we are accelerating our work to make incarceration of women obsolete by: 

• Connecting women to a gender-responsive network of support so no one falls through the cracks 
• Ensuring women have access to safe housing, alternatives to incarceration, and essential care 
• Transforming narratives, policies, and priorities to make care, not punishment, the default response when women encounter the legal system  
• Expanding our reach to support more women, more families, and more communities 

Incarceration is not inevitable, and there are better solutions. Closing Rikers and investing in communities creates pathways to support more women, strengthen families, and reimagine public safety.