New York City Mayor Eric Adams marked Good Friday by receiving a jailhouse baptism from the Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Herbert Daughtry.
The mayor joined in on the religious rite with 11 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.”
Sharpton, founder and president of the National Action Network, told the prisoners, “One can be redeemed. Resurrect yourself to overcome any past misdeeds,” according to a press release.
Images from the event appear to show Adams interlocking hands with Sharpton during a prayer, the reverend washing Adams’ feet and Adams being baptized.
Mayor Adams and the civil rights leader have close ties through their long tenures in New York politics. Adams often calls into Sharpton’s radio show and the pair have appeared together at City Hall events.
Adams also worked as a bodyguard for the activist during several of his rallies in the 1980s. “I was blessed to rebaptize the mayor and these 11 souls today alongside one of my mentors, Rev. Daughtry, on one of the holiest days of the year,” Sharpton said.
“By being baptized again along [with] 11 detainees, Mayor Adams today reaffirmed his commitment to his faith, to the city of New York, and helping the most broken among us,” Sharpton said.