Two years from the deadline to close Rikers Island, conditions at the sprawling jail complex remain horrific, and the City continues to come up short in making its closure possible.
According to a new report from an independent commission reconvened by City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, the City will fail to meet the legally mandated August 31, 2027 deadline for closing the City jail that was voted into law in 2019.
Per the report, the main barriers to meeting the deadline are simple but loom large nonetheless: Rikers's population currently sits at around 6,500, more than the 4,500-person capacity of the four new borough jails; construction on those jails has been delayed, such that all four won't be finished until 2032; and, most damningly, "a sense of urgency has been missing" in changing conditions in the jail, even as its population has spiked and conditions within have grown increasingly toxic and deadly.
How can the jail population be reduced by 2,000 people? The report recommends releasing everyone who can be released back into their communities immediately, and reducing the amount of time it takes—currently 9 months—for people held on Rikers to get their day in court. If the state opens up 500 more desperately-needed beds for psychiatric patients, the total capacity for the new system would be 5,000.