Rikers Island
Updated
Politics
A timeline on the closure of Rikers Island
The long-awaited decision on a federal takeover will have to wait till an unknown date.
Rikers Island
Opinion
Opinion: Is it possible to get the effort to close Rikers Island back on track?
The troubled jail’s closure has been cast adrift in a sea of half truths, bad ideas and polarized debate.
Criminal Justice
Politics
Rikers replacement jails won't be ready by 2027 deadline, City Hall budget director says
“We know it’s not going to happen by 2027,” Budget Director Jacques Jiha said of the plan to close Rikers Island, during a discussion of the city’s capital budget.
New York City
Personality
Family of man incarcerated at Rikers who died after botched heart surgery wins $6.1 million jury award
Juan Francisco Hidalgo Flores died at a prison ward at Bellevue Hospital.
Opinion
Opinion
Commentary: A look at the new New York City Department of Correction Commissioner’s attempts at transparency show slow to no progress
Lynelle Maginley-Liddie, previously the first deputy commissioner of the department, made tall promises to the Board of Correction that she didn’t deliver on.
Rikers Island
Politics
Exclusive: New Rikers commission unveils list of members
The former New York City probation commissioner and a former deputy mayor will join many original members to get the closure plan back on track.
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion: The feds must take control of Rikers and then close it
Should the city jails be put into receivership or should Rikers be closed? The only correct answer is both.
News & Politics
Politics
Which city leaders are calling for a federal takeover of Rikers Island?
The city comptroller, public advocate, state attorney general, federal prosecutors and even former DOC commissioners all support federal receivership for the city’s jails.
Rikers Island
Politics
Federal monitor concludes DOC is incapable of running Rikers well
The monitor’s latest report finds that stabbings are up, deaths in custody are continuing and nothing will change so long as DOC is in charge.
Rikers Island
Policy
What would receivership look like for Rikers Island?
Here are the options a judge has for stripping New York City of its control of the dysfunctional jail complex.
Policy
Policy
After PR stunts, damning reports and a new lawsuit, judge sets stage for potential federal takeover of Rikers next year
Federal judge Laura Taylor Swain is losing patience with the city Department of Correction, which has now come under fire from the court-appointed federal monitor, Legal Aid Society, federal prosecutors, city comptroller and Board of Correction.
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion: Closing Rikers is the joke of the decade
There’s no way Rikers will be replaced by four borough-based jails by 2027. So let’s reform Rikers instead.
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion: Eric Adams has failed. It’s time for a federal receiver to take over at Rikers
Receivership is the only way to improve conditions and save lives at the troubled jail complex
Editor's Note
Opinion
Editor's Note: How many more will die at Rikers?
The city keeps sending people to the infamous jail complex, and people keep dying.
Policy
Policy
More people have died in New York City jails than previously known
Since 2014, at least 120 people held in city jails have died while in custody or shortly after being released on medical grounds – but some of those deaths have gone unreported.
Policy
Policy
Here's how parents are really treated on Rikers
Unable to exercise their parental rights, incarcerated fathers and mothers can often feel isolated from their children.
Rikers Island
Policy
Elected officials sound the alarm on proposed city budget cuts to Rikers
Amid proposed cuts to jail-based programming, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams says the Eric Adams administration is at a crossroads
Rikers Island
Politics
Comptroller and public advocate tour Rikers, call on feds to take over Rikers
After touring the jail complex, Brad Lander and Jumaane Williams said the city cannot be trusted to manage Rikers Island.
Opinion
Opinion
Opinion: We can’t give up on closing Rikers
The city can still close the jail by 2027 if it invests in alternatives to incarceration and supportive housing.
New York City
Politics
Urgency to improve Rikers conditions grows as inmate hunger strike enters Day 6
Advocates on Thursday demanded Mayor Eric Adams step in to improve conditions at a rally outside the jail complex.
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