On September 29th, 2021, dozens of NYC faith leaders gathered on Rikers Island. They offered prayers, and worked alongside incarcerated boys to paint and clean cells in the Robert N. Davoren Complex, a youth jail on the island. The new NYC Corrections commissioner Vincent Schiraldi made news when he apologized for mass incarceration, called it a racist policy, and promised to bring it to an end. Of course, it’s not the commissioner who decides who is jailed and who is free in New York City: the bail reform struggle among legislators, prosecutors, and judges will decide the future of incarceration here.

Jennifer and I covered the event for Lion’s Roar:

Images © A. Jesse Jiryu Davis