Hundreds Gathered Outside Rikers Island for Protest of Work Conditions

August 16 2021 – QUEENS, New York:
Hundreds of corrections officers gathered at the Rikers Island sign to demand an end to triple shifts, sexual assaults on COs, and for better treatment by the executives and government.

A representative for Eric Adams began speaking to the crowd and said Adams is out of the country, the crowd booed and chanted “he’s not here.”
Candidate Curtis Sliwa then addressed the crowd to a big applause and cheer and said he won’t be in the Hamptons or out of the country but he’ll stand with the Corrections Officers.
The crowd was retired and off-duty COs and representatives of the union COBA.
A small counter protest gathered across the street with a sign that read, “Rikers Island is a Death Sentence.”
At one point, a counter-protester came into the crowd with a small child strapped to her chest. She shouted “close the jails” and “free them all” while people around her shouted and chanted “you’ve got to go.” NYPD eventually were able to force the woman to leave the crowd.

Video by Oliya Scootercaster and @NewYorkCityPeople (FNTV freedomnews.tv)