New York City’s mayor gets baptized in jail by Rev. Al Sharpton on Good Friday

March 30, 2024

US New York City’s mayor gets baptized in jail by Rev. Al Sharpton on Good Friday

Eric Adams, NYC Mayor marked Good Friday by receiving a jailhouse baptism from the Rev. Al Sharpton, joining in on the religious rite with a group of men incarcerated at the troubled Rikers Island jail complex.

The ceremony came as part of a visit to the jail complex where Adams was scheduled to meet with detainees on the Christian holiday.

• “Having been arrested and then elected mayor, I reminded these young men that where you are is not who you are,” Adams, a Democrat, said in a statement. “For the first time in their lives, their mayor didn’t look down at them — I sat side by side with them to be cleansed and recommit ourselves to getting on the right path.”

The mayor had also visited Rikers earlier this week to meet with detainees. In an interview this week on New York City radio show “The Breakfast Club,” Adams said he met with “a group of 12 young brothers who recommitted themselves to Christ.”

• “I’ve been on Rikers Island more than any mayor in the history of the city talking with inmates and correction officers to turn around what’s happening on Rikers Island,” Adams said in the heated radio interview, which aired Friday.