Cecily McMillan outside Rikers Island today. Photo via @AshAgony
Cecily McMillan walked out of Rikers today a free woman. And right away, her first act has been to raise the flag for those who remained behind, the women serving time at the Rikers’ Rose M. Singer jail. “I walked in with one movement, and return to you a representative of another,” said McMillan. “That bridge right there, that divides the city from Rikers Island does not only divide two worlds, today I hope to bring them closer together. Crossing back over, I have a message to you from several concerned citizens currently serving time at the Rose M. Singer Center.” You can read Cecily’s full statement here.
Our thanks and respect to everyone who participated in the petitions and letter writing campaign (personal letters from Nadya Tolokonnikova, Masha Alekhina, Shepard Fairey, Kim Gordon, Spike Jonze, JD Samson, Justin Vivian Bond and Lauren Mayberry veiwable here), the legal and OWS teams let us know that “the letters from jurors, concerned citizens and petitions had a huge affect on the judge’s sentence.” Our tremendous respect goes to the legal team, to the Occupy Wall Street and #Justice4Cecily teams who worked so hard on behalf of Cecily, and to the tireless and inspirational Lucy Parks.
As reported in the Village Voice:
At 5 o’clock this morning, graduate student and Occupy Wall Street protester Cecily McMillan was awakened by a guard in her bunk at Rikers, where she’s spent a little more than two months after being convicted of assault on a police officer. McMillan had expected to be released today, but she anticipated going through the usual procedure: visiting the social services office around 7:30 a.m. with a group of other women also being let out that day, receiving her property back, and meeting her friends at the gates of the jail.
Instead, McMillan says she was taken to an unmarked van by a cadre of police officers.
“I don’t want to go with you,” she later told her friend Lucy Parks she said to them. “You’re not telling me where you’re taking me.” She feared she was being set up.
Eventually, an officer told her she was being released. She was taken to the Queensboro Plaza, where she says she was “dumped” unceremoniously, her arms full of her property. She had no keys, money, or phone. The officers left her with a Metro Card and drove away.
McMillan borrowed a phone from a stranger and called Parks, 19, a close friend who also organized much of her support team both during the trial and while she was in custody. Parks drove to Queens to get her; hours later, McMillan was back at the Rikers entrance, standing in front of a small army of reporters….read more at villagevoice.com