The Legal Aid Society, The Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, New York County Defender Services, the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem, and Queens Defenders are urging President Biden to visit Rikers Island when he comes to New York City next week to meet with Mayor Eric Adams on issues related to gun violence, as reported by the New York Daily News.

“President Joseph Biden’s visit to New York City is an opportunity for this nation’s leader to witness firsthand the horrendous conditions New Yorkers endure each day on Rikers Island – conditions that should serve as a reminder of why incarceration is not a panacea for public safety concerns,” reads a statement from the defender organizations. “New York City jails remain in an unprecedented and unmitigated humanitarian crisis that has no end in sight.”

“Focusing on discredited punitive and surveillance-based approaches that feed mass incarceration and sends even more people into facilities that cannot keep them safe demeans democracy and endangers everyone,” the statement continues. “We call on President Biden to visit Rikers Island and bear witness to the ongoing human rights violations against incarcerated New Yorkers.”