Update (October 17, 2019): The New York City Council approved Mayor Bill de Blasio's $8 billion plan to close Rikers Island jail by 2026, The New York Times reported. The sprawling complex houses about 7,000 inmates per day and has 10,000 beds.
De Blasio said he wants to replace Rikers with four smaller jails in downtown Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx.
"What we are doing today will reshape the city for generations to come and impact the lives of every New Yorker," said Council Speaker Corey Johnson. "For decades, our city was unfair to those who became involved in the justice system, and the overwhelming majority who were caught up were Black and brown men."
The mayor believes the closing will shake up the prison industrial complex, according to The Associated Press. The goal is to reduce the incarcerated population to 3,300 inmates.
"Mass incarceration did not begin in New York City, but it will end here," de Blasio said. "We are proving you don't need to arrest your way to safety."
The council also approved $265 million to be used to keep people out of jail including a supervised release program, conflict resolution courses in schools and transitional employment programs for recent releasees. Additionally, the smaller jails will have educational programs, mental health counseling and job training.
The plan is not without critics, who are concerned about the effect the new jails will have on their neighborhoods. Although 36 out of 49 council members voted yes, 13 were opposed, according to The New York Daily News. Two more were not present.
"It will require putting more potentially dangerous offenders back on the street, jeopardizing public safety," said Steven Matteo, the city council's minority leader.
"This vote only enriches developers in the short term, while leaving the fate of Rikers in the hands of a future mayor and a future council," said Councilman Carlos Menchaca of Brooklyn.
Original: This past weekend, the New York Times broke the news that the independent commission studying Rikers Island officially released its recommendations for closing the jail complex more than a year after the panel was convened and two days after Mayor Bill de Blasio reversed course to back the plan.
Back in February, the speaker of the New York City Council, Melissa Mark-Viverito, gave a speech titled "More Justice," addressing the issue of criminal justice reforms and the plan to shrink jail population to such a degree that officials would have to eventually consider shutting down scandal-plagued Rikers Island. "This is a historic day. With the release of this report and the support of the mayor as announced on Friday, we can now say that the dream of closing Rikers will become a reality," Viverito stated.
The state's former chief judge, Jonathan Lippman, who led the study, released his statement this weekend as well. “On behalf of the commission and myself, I want you to know that we are all delighted, absolutely delighted, clearly, that the mayor has exercised real leadership and understanding that New York City must absolutely and as soon as possible close Rikers Island, period,” Mr. Lippman said. “It is a place that is an affront to humanity, and decency, and it is a stain on our city’s reputation.”
The plan is to make a 10-year goal for the departure of the last inmate from Rikers. Mayor de Blasio announced his support for the plan although researchers say such an ambitious project could come with a price tag of $13.9 billion, although it would save the city $1.4 billion annually.
The proposal suggests a few ways to move forward with the plan. The first being, instead of one huge prison with the "mass incarceration" model, they will build five smaller prisons, one in each borough. It also suggests that they'll turn the island into an infrastructure point that could serve as an additional runway for La Guardia Airport and a water treatment plant. Mr. Lippman suggests for the island to be renamed and turned into a memorial or museum to "tell future generations the history of what happened" at the notorious prison.
Overall, the plan is to end the practice of incarcerating those awaiting trial for nonviolent crimes and reclassifying some low-level offenses. Their most exposed case would be Kalief Browder who just had a six-part documentary on Spike TV that exposed the wrongdoings of the intense system.
