NYC loses control of Rikers Island as judge appoints remediation manager to run jail complex
After years of litigation, a federal judge has appointed a remediation manager to run Rikers Island and report directly to her, taking control of the troubled complex away from New York City.
Complaints about the sprawling jail complex have gone on for decades, but now it will be up to the feds to come up with a solution.
"They want to do something else and they don't like what we're doing"
Mayor Eric Adams said he had taken steps to reduce the violence and improve conditions, but insisted he had been hamstrung by the City Council and then-Mayor Bill de Blasio who passed a law calling for Rikers to close by 2027. The law also prevented the city from spending money to improve the dilapidated conditions.
A July 2023 report documented dangerous health and safety conditions at the various jails – pictures of dirty toilets, wash basins, sinks and other personal hygiene facilities.
"Because of the 2027 law that was passed, we cannot put money into capital improvements on Rikers," Adams said. "So when you look at the women's locker room, it's disgusting. When you look at some of the major improvements you need with the doors and the facilities, we can't do that."
The appointment comes after more than nine years of a tug-of-war over improving conditions and after the judge held the city in contempt last November for what she called "a glacial pace of reform."
"So if the federal judge made a determination that they want to do something else and they don't like what we're doing, it's a federal judge. We're going to follow the rules," Adams said. "I'm going to follow whatever rule she puts in place because she has the authority to do so."
Appointment marks "critical turning point," advocates say
The Legal Aid Society and a private law firm representing inmates called the judge's move a "historic decision."
"This appointment," they said, in part, in a statement, "marks a critical turning point – an overdue acknowledgement that City leadership has proven unable to protect the safety and constitutional rights of incarcerated individuals."
The correction officers' union released a statement saying, in part:
"We are willing to work productively with whomever is ultimately appointed the Remediation Manager, while maintaining our fierce advocacy for the preservation of our members' employment rights and improving their working conditions ... The city's jails cannot operate without us and no matter what the new management of our jails looks like, the path towards a safer jail system begins with supporting the essential men and women who help run the jails every day."
As for closing Rikers, construction of the four community-based jails that are supposed to replace Rikers are behind schedule, and they only hold about 4,500 inmates combined. There are 7,000 people on Rikers right now.
