Last month, the newly reconvened Independent Rikers Commission found that the City will fail to shut down the jails on Rikers Island by the legally-mandated August 31, 2027 deadline, and that the old jails will likely remain open well past 2030—more than 11 years after legislation was passed to close them.
The commission recommended a series of measures to get back on track, and on Wednesday, the City Council released a report and held a hearing laying out how it would take some of those steps, though the 2027 deadline will almost certainly not be met.
A major source of the delay to close Rikers and replace it with four borough-based jails is that the jail population is currently over 7,000, which is nearly 3,000 more people than the replacement jails can hold. The new jails are also years behind on their construction schedule, and Mayor Eric Adams has thrown up his hands.