City Limits contacted all 51 members of the City Council, the five borough presidents and the three citywide officials to ask whether they support closing Rikers.
The jury is still out on whether reforms – segregating the most violent inmates, a crackdown on smuggling, faster use-of-force investigations – will be effective.
Rikers’ physical reality, many agree, is a crucial part of its problem.
The key question might not be whether the city should live without Rikers, or how it would do so, but whether it has the political will to finish the transformation that has already started.
A first-of-its-kind “social impact bond” project that tried to reduce recidivism among youths jailed on Rikers Island is being hailed as a success even though the results disappointed.
Citing rising violence, the city’s Department of Correction wants more ability to block visits or curtail physical contact. Opponents say the proposed changes are based on bad data and could do more harm than good.
On a per capita basis, state inmates are less likely than city prisoners to be perpetrators or victims of violence. But the numbers point to a persistent suicide problem and a rising use of force.
The revelations about systemic brutality in the city’s jails point to the critical role that captains—the first layer of leadership over correction officers—play.
Amid a sharp increase in fights and injuries, a former corrections officer lays out a plan to avoid more bloodshed.
There’s been a 44 percent jump in the number of punitive segregation cells in city jails the past two years. Jail officials say it’s to prevent violence, but advocates argue the punishment is counterproductive.
