NYC Task Force Calls To End Plan To Transfer Women, Including Transgender Women, From Rikers Island
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- There's a new call to end the plan to transfer women, including transgender women, from Rikers Island.
The city task force on transgender, gender non-conforming, non-binary and intersex individuals wants to put a stop to the initiative. They say the decision to move the inmates to upstate correctional facilities puts their safety at risk.
The task force says the decarceration, or release, of vulnerable populations is the only solution.
Mayor Bill de Blasio maintains the state facility the governor made available will provide inmates with more support than what can be done in the space at Rikers, but there is a bigger mission that must be achieved.
"Reduce population, bring in more of the officers back ... to improve, health, safety, the overall environment," de Blasio said. "We're going to be very, very respectful of these individuals and their families, but it's also temporary while we solve an immediate reality."
The plan to transfer these inmates was announced last week.
