“My son didn’t ask to go to jail and await trial to come home dead,” said grieving mother Lezandre Khadu, at a rally in Washington Square Park. “When is someone gonna come in and intervene?”

Khadu offered an impassioned plea for jail reform at a rally Saturday. The names of hundreds of people who have died in city jails and New York State prisons since 2000 were read and honored.

“So often we hear the horrible stories of what goes on in Riker’s island and the New York City Department of Correction,” said Chaplain Dr. Victoria Phillips, a social justice activist. “But we don’t truly hear the names of loved ones who lose their lives in those conditions, those horrible, barbaric conditions that they’re often placed in.”

The rally was held just one day after the Legal Aid Society filed a contempt motion, as well as an application, to secure the appointment of an independent receiver over the city’s jail system.

Khadu said her life was forever changed after her 24-year-old son Stephan lost his life, just over two years ago. The city’s Department of Correction said he suffered a medical problem in their custody, in a floating jail barge just north of Rikers Island.

“Every second of my life I suffer,” said Khadu. “I wake up every morning gasping for air that this is not real.”

The DOC says in 2022, 19 deaths occurred in city jails under its jurisdiction. This year, officials say 8 people died in custody, while one died just after release.

Rally organizers say they want the city council to end solitary confinement and protect human rights. Activists say the city should no longer send people to jails and prisons where inmates have lost their lives for reasons other than natural causes.

The Legal Aid Society said if things continue at the current rate, there will be more than 6,500 use of force incidents citywide in 2023, compared to nearly 2,000 fewer incidents in 2016.