An independent group looking into the dismantling of Rikers Island on Wednesday said the city is not near to closing the jail complex by the 2027 deadline and recommended the city accelerate the building of outer borough jails.
The Independent Rikers Commission, a group of experts, policymakers and advocates including corrections, law enforcement and victims’ services professionals, called the jail "unsafe, decrepit, costly" and recommended the city appoint one official that will only deal with the closing of Rikers and another to prepare the Department of Correction to transition to borough-based facilities.
The group, which released a report titled "A Path Forward: A Blueprint to Close Rikers," said the jail complex is "a crumbling, inordinately expensive incubator of misery and reoffending. They degrade public safety, and put incarcerated people and staff at grave, unnecessary risk."
The report was commissioned by City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams after 61 people incarcerated at Rikers have died since 2020, the group said.
Recommendations include:
- Create a safer, more effective and efficient borough-based system, closer to courthouses and services. The city must speed up borough jail construction by at least a year. Over 100 secure treatment beds at Bellevue sit unacceptably empty because DOC will not commit staff to them, leaving very ill people stuck on Rikers.
- Expand the borough system’s capacity to 5,000 beds by opening 500 Secure Forensic Psychiatric Treatment Beds. These facilities would be located outside of the jails, primarily housing those so severely mentally ill that they cannot understand what is happening in court. Ideally, the beds will be at a state facility in or near NYC. These beds will provide the system with necessary elasticity and flexibility, and ensure people get care in an appropriate setting.
- Create two new senior positions that includes a full-time point person at City Hall whose sole mission is to close Rikers Island and another full-time senior point person at DOC whose sole mission is preparing DOC to transition to the borough-based facilities.
The group also recommended reducing the current jail population by speeding up criminal cases, offering more mental health services and figuring out what to do with the island once the jail complex closes.
"For decades, Rikers has been marked by dysfunction, violence and neglect—failing not only incarcerated people, but the staff and the entire city,” said Commission Chair and Former Chief Judge of New York State Jonathan Lippman. “With strong leadership by New York’s current and future officeholders, and the urgency that has been sorely missing, we can end the stain of Rikers forever."
Speaker Adams said the mayor must take concrete action and dedicate resources required to implement the group's recommendations.
"There is no shortcut to the work ahead, and there can be no discussions about the legal closure date without these types of commitments from the administration," she said. "The Council remains deeply committed to closing Rikers and ensuring it is replaced with an effective borough-based jail system that is safer for all New Yorkers.”
