City’s first ‘close Rikers czar’ starts this month

As New York City’s first ever “close Rikers czar,” it’s Dana Kaplan’s job to get the notorious jails complex shut down ASAP.

That’s a tall task under the best circumstances. And at this point it’s a well-known fact that there’s no way the city will manage to do so before the mandated 2027 deadline. Between the high numbers of people incarcerated at Rikers Island and delays building the four borough-based jails intended to replace the complex, there’s still a long way to go. Enter Kaplan, a longtime criminal justice reformer, who will step into the new role dedicated to closing the jails this month. She helped craft the city’s latest blueprint plan to get things back on track as a senior adviser to the Independent Rikers Commission. Now she’ll join the roster of people who’ve taken the helm of Rikers Island at a time many see as an opportunity for great change. 

City & State spoke with Kaplan about her priorities as czar, whether the Mamdani administration will direct the City Council to set a new deadline to close Rikers and her role in coordinating between all the various entities. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

You’ve been involved in efforts to close Rikers Island for more than a decade, dating back to when you joined the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice under the de Blasio administration. What feels different now, if anything?

I think what is exciting and new and feels different about this moment is the level of priority that it is being given by Mayor Mamdani. For the first time, we have a Close Rikers czar to oversee the coordination of all of the different component parts of closing Rikers Island. I think the mayor appointed this position because he's serious about making sure that Rikers closes as quickly as possible. That's essentially the task that I'm taking on, to work with all of the different partners on the different pieces of this – from building the borough facilities to safely reducing the jail population. That level of coordination is what's required to get this done.

Where will you be working? I was speaking to Commissioner Richards recently and he mentioned that both he and Nicholas Deml, the new remediation manager, have offices on Rikers Island.

I work out of the first deputy mayor's office, so it's a City Hall position. There's so many different partners that are part of this, from the Deputy Mayor's Office of Operations to the Department of Design and Construction, to the Department of Correction and Correctional Health Services to our work reducing the jail population with the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice and the district attorneys, the courts, the defenders. It’s a position that sits in City Hall, but I imagine that my work will take me to many corners. 

What do you anticipate your dynamic to be with Commissioner Richards and Deml? How will you coordinate between all of these various entities? There are a lot of cooks in the kitchen at present. 

That's one of the things that is exciting about this moment, frankly, is that we have so many partners who are equally committed to this vision and who each have an important part to play in it. I've known Commissioner Richards for many, many years. I know his commitment to this plan. I've known him since long before he was the commissioner of the Department of Correction, and I think he was a stellar appointment for this role. He’s definitely going to be someone that is helpful to the city – not only in the closure of Rikers, but obviously making sure that our current jails and future ones operate in a manner that is as safe and effective as possible for both the people in detention and those that work there every day. The City Council too will be part of this. 

At this point we know that it’s impossible to close Rikers Island and replace it with the borough-based jails by 2027. Will the Mamdani administration direct the City Council to amend the law? 

I have yet to start my role. When I get in there, of course a question that I'll be asking is, what's the fastest possible path to closing Rikers Island? And what does that look like? 

The City Council passed the original law that bans the use of incarceration on Rikers Island after 2027 so obviously any change to that law is going to have to be something that is done by them. I assume that we will work closely with them on any changes to the law that might need to be made. 

To what degree do you expect to implement the Independent Rikers Commission’s blueprint plan to close Rikers, an effort for which you were a senior adviser? Your appointment in and of itself was one of the recommendations the commission made.  

As you noted, one of the commission’s recommendations had been to create a full time position dedicated at the mayoral level to closing Rikers Island because it needed that type of City Hall focus. That is something the City Council moved to do with legislation, but I think it also reflects Mayor Mamdani’s personal commitment to seeing Rikers closed. 

There were a number of other recommendations from the commission's report on how to safely reduce the jail population, many of which are consistent with strategies that fall within my mandate as well. Case processing is just one example of that. Commissioner Richards has said that there's about 2,000 people on a given day right now in Rikers Island who have been languishing for upwards of one to two years and often far longer. That serves no one. The courts are really committed to reducing those case processing times. It is something that will take systemwide coordination.

Speeding up case processing is quite complex because you have so many different judges and district attorneys with control over this. Has there been a shift in willingness? 

Yea, the current chief judge has said that they see this as part of the effort to close Rikers Island and to just have a more efficient and well-functioning justice system writ large. I really appreciate the court’s leadership on this. But as you said, there are many 

entities that play a part in this. That includes the courts and the district attorneys and the defense, but also has implications around discovery laws, timelines, mental health beds and competency hearings. There are many, many pieces. Coordination around all of that is just so important. I think we will see the benefits of that in terms of the better functioning of our justice system. 

Earlier this month, the city opened the long-delayed therapeutic unit at Bellevue Hospital to house incarcerated people with complex medical needs. And last week, the city celebrated the finalization of the Brooklyn borough-based jail’s structural frame. Both were big milestones in efforts to close Rikers. What do you anticipate will be the next big moment?

Those are both very exciting milestones. The Bellevue Hospital beds in particular were delayed for years, and you know, it was really heartening to see those finally open and to be able to tour what that unit looks like.

One of the things I’ll be looking at when I begin my role is the land transfers that are part of the renewable Rikers plan. Again, I can’t put a timeline, but all of these things are part of the plan to close rikers. We will move ahead with great urgency across the board.