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A new NYC commission is charged with making sure Rikers is closed by 2027
By
Jessy Edwards
Published Oct 23, 2023
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By
Jessy Edwards
Published Oct 23, 2023
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Two weeks after a federal monitor dropped a scathing report on worsening conditions at the Rikers Island jail facility, the New York City Council speaker has revived a commission to help make sure the troubled jailed facility is shut down by August 2027.
Speaker Adrienne Adams said Monday she reappointed the Independent Rikers Commission to get the plan to close Rikers “back on course.”
“It is clear that Rikers is not serving New Yorkers and continues to undermine public safety in our city,” she said.
The revived commission will be chaired by former New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman and will work with new members from the community, criminal justice system and government to lay out a refreshed blueprint to help ensure the closure of Rikers.
Lippman said in a statement that his priorities include safely reducing the jail population, focusing on people with serious mental illness, giving people access to speedy trials and accelerating the construction of borough-based jails.
“Rikers has to close as soon as possible. The jails there hurt public safety and endanger the lives of everyone inside their walls. They are a stain on the soul of our city,” he said in a statement.
Darren Mack, Freedom Agenda co-director, said its network of advocates for incarcerated people hoped Mayor Eric Adams would work with the commission on its goals.
“Getting Rikers closed by the August 2027 deadline and giving people as many offramps from the horrors there as possible in the meantime is a life-or-death issue,” he said.
Six years ago, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio announced an ambitious plan to close the jails on Rikers Island and replace them with smaller ones across the city. The City Council then sealed the deal, passing two laws requiring the last incarcerated person to leave the island by Aug. 31, 2027.
Around that time, the Independent Rikers Commission was first established by Melissa Mark-Viverito, the former Council speaker.
But as that deadline nears, the mayor has stated the need for a “Plan B,” even as conditions worsen and people housed there die at the highest rate in a quarter century.
Although the new jails were intended to usher in an end to the era of mass incarceration, the jailed population has been inching up since COVID and is now at more than 6,100 people as of Oct. 20. The city forecasts that the jailed population will increase to 7,000 by next year, but the four replacement jails together can house no more than 4,200 people.
The Adams administration currently faces a federal takeover of Rikers. In total, 28 Department of Correction detainees have died since Adams' inauguration in January 2022.
Adams said Monday his administration supports the commission’s work to close Rikers. He said the pandemic slowed court proceedings – increasing the jail population – and delayed the borough-based jails planning and construction.
“Our administration’s commitment to the success of our jail system is unwavering, but we also have taken stock of the reality of how this once-in-a-generation pandemic impacted the original timeline for the implementation of the borough-based jail plan,” he said.
“The answer is not to ignore reality or compromise public safety, but to work together to find solutions.”
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Jessy Edwards
Jessy Edwards covers incarceration and public safety. Before working at Gothamist/WNYC, she covered daily and breaking news at NBC New York and Brooklyn news at BK Reader. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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