Rikers Island to be Closed by ‘27, but Nowhere Close

Former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio aimed to have Rikers closed by 2027, but successor Eric Adams is off track thus far.

Protester brandishes sign at NYC rally to shut down Rikers Island. Credit: Via Derek French, Pexels.

New York City has the largest population of any city in the United States, reaching eight and a half million people according to the 2020 Census. A city with such a large population handles its fair share of crime, and thus requires adequate corrections facilities to keep everything afloat. However, the city that never sleeps is stuck with one of the worst prisons in the country: Rikers Island. 

Officials moved the city penitentiary from Roosevelt Island to Rikers Island in 1935, and it has built a reputation for violence and corruption over its lifetime. According to the Brooklyn Eagle, over 370 inmates have died while in custody since 2001 alone — and those statistics are counted during the new century when Rikers has received more scrutiny and attention than any other time in its history. The prison has developed a penchant for the brutality of its guards, violence amongst the prisoner population and a high rate of inmate suicide. However, in 2017, Rikers entered a new era: its final one. 

Then-Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a ten-year plan to close the facilities on Rikers Island by 2027 and replace the biggest jail in the city with four smaller, borough-based jails. According to Fola Akinnibi of Bloomberg News, the plan aims to open a jail each in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, while also reducing the citywide inmate count from 5,000 to around 3,300. Akinnibi also mentions the benefit that Correctional Health Services will receive, as newer facilities with more modern designs will make specialized healthcare for inmates much easier and cheaper. The plan seems great on paper, but Bill de Blasio is no longer in office. 

His successor, Eric Adams, now spearheads the challenging task of shutting Rikers down for good, and he verbally supported this mission upon taking office in early 2022. However, it’s difficult to tell if Adams really feels that way. A former captain of the NYPD himself, Adams has expressed support for solitary confinement, a practice that many prison reform activists label as inhumane. In the first six months of the Adams administration, NYC saw a 25% spike in misdemeanor arrests, a statistic that is the antithesis of the goal to lower inmate count. Additionally, 18 inmates at Rikers have died already this year, surpassing last year’s count of 16 with nearly two months to spare. The equation doesn’t add up: with active planning from city officials to shut down Rikers, the situation seems to only get worse. 

Most of the inmate population at Rikers are being held pre-trial, and with a court system that takes years to sentence offenders, prisoners find themselves detained without charge, sometimes for upwards of three years. The case of Kalief Browder is a heartbreaking one, but it encapsulates the longstanding problems with the corrections facilities in New York City. In 2010, Browder was arrested at age 16 under suspicion of stealing a backpack. He was held for three years without trial and finally released in 2013, but not without routinely suffering beatings from both inmates and correctional officers. In 2015, Browder committed suicide at just 22 years old. 

New York City officials like to discuss finding ways to reform Rikers, but if it hasn’t worked in 87 years, it’s worth wondering if it ever will. Rikers certainly detains some dangerous people, but for the most part, it chews up inmates and spits them out into the world angry and violent. It’s time for Eric Adams to put his money where his mouth is when it comes to crime and corrections in his city. He needs to begin by taking the advice of city comptroller Brad Lander, who called for federal intervention at Rikers in early October. If granted, a court-ordered official would pass short-term reforms at the prison, which, if done properly, would work to reduce violence and corruption. Ideally, the facility would be shut down today, but the 2027 goal is the earliest possible estimated date. Until then, Rikers will continue to be a festering symbol of brutality sitting right in the East River for New Yorkers to see.