New York City Mayor Adams is reportedly reconsidering the plan to close Rikers Island prison in 2027, as revealed by the Daily News. Instead, he is considering repurposing the sites designated for community prisons to build housing units and psychiatric hospitals.
Mayor Adams has instructed senior aides to assess how many housing units can be built on the planned community prison sites in Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx. Additionally, they are exploring the possibility of converting the Brooklyn prison site into a mental health treatment center, as roughly half of the inmates on Rikers Island currently suffer from mental illness.
If this plan materializes, it is anticipated to face multiple political and legal obstacles, and may potentially violate the legislation passed by the City Council in 2019, which mandates the permanent closure of Rikers Island prison by August 2027. Unauthorized changes to the plan by the city government without Council approval could lead to legal challenges.
When questioned outside City Hall on Friday, Deputy Mayor for External Affairs Tiffany Raspberry did not deny the existence of this plan.
Chair of the City Council’s Committee on Criminal Justice, Sandy Nurse, strongly criticized this move, stating that any attempt to overturn the law closing Rikers Island is pointless and a waste of time. She vowed to take legal action if the plan is implemented.
According to the progress reported by the city government, construction contracts for the community prisons in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx have already been signed, with negotiations for the Manhattan site nearing completion. However, construction progress is significantly behind schedule, with the Brooklyn site projected to be delayed by three years, and other locations facing even more severe delays, making it highly unlikely to meet the 2027 statutory deadline.
The prison facilities on Rikers Island are deteriorating due to age, with limited government funding allocated for maintenance. Originally intended to be decommissioned, the decision on whether to recommit to renovation efforts and how to address the current inmates presents a challenging dilemma for the city government.