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Zohran Mamdani: “The despair on Rikers island has been well known to many of…”

Featuring: Zohran Mamdani, Democratic | Mayor of New York City

JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event

Published September 8, 2025 | Video Starts at 41:47

You know, I've visited Rikers a few times, and one of the last times I went, there was an incarcerated New Yorker that tried to take their own life in front of one of my colleagues in that cell. The despair on Rikers island has been well known to many of us for quite some time, and yet it is despair that has only been heightened under this current mayoral administration. You know, you mentioned more than 40 New Yorkers have been killed on Rikers island, five in the last two weeks. (41:47–42:01)

CLAIM

Asserts that despair on Rikers Island has increased under the current mayoral administration.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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Zohran Mamdani

“Police Officers responding to 200,000 mental health calls a year.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 07:18-07:23
“75% of commercial units... are vacant within the subway system.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 23:20-23:25
“Rikers Island [is] the largest mental health facility in New York City, second largest in the country where 40% of all the population is…”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 41:50-43:58
“More than 40 New Yorkers have been killed on Rikers Island, five in the last two weeks.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 42:01-42:06
“It costs the city more than $500,000 a year to keep someone on Rikers Island.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 46:46-46:52
“The cost of an entire year's worth of service [at a fountain house] is $4,000. That is three days on Rikers Island.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 47:34-47:41
“Eight of the 10 states that have the highest levels of crime in the country, which are Republican led.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 51:12-51:17
“For every dollar [California has] spent on a lawsuit, they've won more than 33,000 in federal funding.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 52:00-52:06
“No, we have not formed a transition committee as yet.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 00:30-00:33
“Yes. I can tell you that the experience I have every day is reading an article about people that I've apparently promised a job to.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 00:43-00:52
“This [Department of Community Safety] is a department that would have a budget of about $1 billion.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 01:44-17:36
“My opinion is one that looks at the spike in crime across the country over the course of the pandemic and sees similar spikes regardless of…”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 02:19-02:37
“I think we've even seen with raise the age that there are fewer arrests of younger New Yorkers than there were prior to the implementation…”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 02:37-02:48
“About two thirds of the amount of money that was allotted still remains unspent in Albany.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 02:52-02:58
“We can see that murders and shootings are down since 2019, and they are down even further since 2024.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 06:09-06:18
“Major crimes are up 30% since 2019.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 06:20-06:23
“Our plan to deploy teams of dedicated mental health outreach workers to the hundred subway stations with the highest levels of mental health…”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 06:50-07:02
“Response times have increased by 20% over the last few years, where now the average time is closer to 16 minutes.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 07:26-07:33
“The city, under Mayor Adams's leadership, has simply refused to issue the permits that are now required by law.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 09:03-09:28
“We have four or five thousand person waiting lists where a vendor will pay an intermediary $20,000 for the right to sell.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 09:03-09:28
“In New York City, there were 35% of calls that Be Heard was eligible for. They did not respond to and the police responded to.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 11:30-11:38
“We increase funding for [Be Heard] by about 150%.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 12:01-12:04
“Cahoots in Oregon, a program that diverted 20% of calls that were coming into a police department.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 12:07-12:14
“There would be no cuts to create this [Department of Community Safety].”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 17:28-17:31
“Raising the state's top corporate tax rate to match that of New Jersey...raising New York City's personal income tax rate on the top 1% by…”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 17:56-18:08
“In Denver, they had a STAR program...crime went down by 34% over the period of a number of years.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 19:27-19:40
“Cahoots was able to resolve 24,000 calls, save for 311 without police assistance.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 19:32-19:43
“In Philadelphia, they have a Hub for Hope program...connected more than 300 previously homeless individuals to housing.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 20:29-20:43
“We had nearly the same number of vacant supportive housing units as we did homeless New Yorkers.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 21:00-21:08
“Three of [the applicants] died waiting to hear back on their application.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 21:20-21:25
“[Andrew Cuomo's] cutting of the Advantage plan... led to a skyrocketing of homelessness here in New York City.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 22:16-22:34
“Today, if you call 911, you cannot actually order... a response that is not the police to any crisis... for a mental health crisis.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 25:20-25:33
“35% of calls that even after all of that were still determined eligible and still not taken up.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 25:52-25:58
“I have actually found support for this vision of the dcs, of this idea of the removal of mental health crisis from the NYPD set of…”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 28:06-28:19
“I have supported that proposal [to abolish the NYPD gang database].”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 28:06-28:19
“I have spoken about, as it pertains to headcount, sustaining the number of officers that we have on the NYPD and trying to fight this crisis…”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 29:13-29:26
“Does the NYPD having a more than 80 person communications team deliver public safety? No, that relationship is minimal.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 29:58-30:06
“It's been proven to be effective at reducing shootings by up to 40%, yet it's only in operation in, I think, 28 of the more than 70 police…”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 32:57-33:08
“We've talked about increasing funding by 275% as one part of the way in which we deliver public safety.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 34:09-34:16
“The NYPD had a unit, the Demographics Unit, which was tasked with surveilling Muslim New Yorkers doing the most banal things.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 34:45-34:56
“There have too often been instances where just identity in and of itself is the basis of suspicion and the basis of surveillance.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 35:14-35:20
“Part of the reason I'm sitting before you as the Democratic nominee is because of an increase in Muslim voter turnout unlike anything we've…”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 35:37-35:53
“I've been critical of the Strategic Response Group, a group that was founded in the mid 2010s with the intent of being a counterterrorism…”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 37:41-37:54
“We've seen hate crimes continue across New York City.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 38:56-39:01
“We have many schools where they will have a school safety agent, but they will not have a nurse. They will not have a social worker in that…”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 39:50-39:59
“The jail population of Rikers has increased since Eric Adams has come into office by more than 1,000 additional incarcerated New Yorkers.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 42:07-42:17
“We can reduce that jail population to less than 4,000.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 42:22-42:27
“The average stay on Rikers in the 90s was 50 days. Now it's more than 100.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 42:37-42:43
“There are more than 1,500 people on Rikers who have been held there for more than a year.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 42:43-42:48
“This administration has cut funding for much of those very services on Rikers Island.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 43:13-43:20
“For New Yorkers who are released out of state jails, 40% immediately enter into New York City shelters.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 45:05-45:11
“Fountain houses...have been proven to reduce hospitalization by up to 45%, increase employment rates by 50%, decrease loneliness by 56%, and…”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 47:07-47:35
“Mayor Adams put forward restrictions in an RFP that made it difficult for a smaller size clubhouse to even be possible.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 47:49-47:57
“We do not need the National Guard here in New York City.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 50:53-50:57
“No matter the context within which it is described, this has nothing to do with questions of crime and safety.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 50:58-51:05
“A federal judge recently found in [California's] favor that the deployment was illegal.”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 51:51-51:55
“The governor's forceful pushback of [congestion pricing] is part of what allowed the time, the space, the oxygen for it to become an issue…”
JUST IN: Zohran Mamdani Takes Questions At Columbia Journalism School & Vital City Event | Uploaded September 8, 2025 | 52:46-52:56