New York City Mayor Eric Adams has expressed support for closing Rikers Island, but his opinions on his predecessor’s plans to create four borough-based facilities in place of the notoriously fraught jail complex in the East River are less clear. This week, those plans began to come to fruition. Construction crews started work on the former Manhattan Detention Complex in Chinatown known as the Tombs, where one of the new jails is expected to be located, prompting protests and leading to the arrests of some demonstrators, including Evelyn Yang, wife of former presidential and mayoral candidate Andrew Yang.
The infamous jail complex, which opened in 1932, has a long history of abuse and negligence toward inmates. The facility was heavily criticized in the 1970s and ’80s for overpopulation, dangerous conditions and unhealthy practices toward adolescent prisoners. Under then-New York City Mayor Ed Koch, the public began calling for the island to be closed.
In recent years, those calls have amplified amid similar concerns related to the violent and inhumane nature of Rikers Island, which has been plagued by understaffing, gang violence, crumbling infrastructure, an influx of contraband and deaths of inmates.
Eventually, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio came around to support the closure of the island and introduced plans to begin the process. Getting there was not without its own share of complications. Here is a brief timeline of the recent calls to close the jail complex and the steps taken so far.
August 2014
The U.S. Justice Department released a report after an investigation of Rikers Island found “a pattern and practice of conduct at Rikers that violates the constitutional rights of adolescent inmates.” The department learned there was a “deep-seated culture of violence” that was pervasive among adolescent youth and that staffers frequently used force “not as a last resort, but … as a means to control.”
March 2015
Following increased calls for action, de Blasio and then-city Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte announced a 14-point plan to create a safe environment for inmates on Rikers Island.
November 2015
New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer announced his support to close Rikers Island.
February 2016
In her State of the City address, then-New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito called for reforms to reduce the inmate population at Rikers Island and, ultimately, to shut down the island. Mark-Viverito’s call for the island’s closure gained support from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, while de Blasio shot down the proposal.
March 2017
De Blasio pledged to shut down Rikers Island alongside Mark-Viverito in an announcement at City Hall.
June 2017
De Blasio released a roadmap for the jail complex’s closure, including safety protocols, reduced capacity and reduced isolation for inmates.
February 2018
Alongside New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, de Blasio announced four borough-based jails in every borough except Staten Island to replace Rikers Island and introduce fairer and smaller criminal justice system.
October 2019
De Blasio and Johnson agreed to close the jail complex by 2026 and open four new jails at a total cost of $8.7 billion. A week later, the City Council approved the deal.
August 2020
Gothamist acquired planning documents that showed delays would stretch the closing of Rikers Island well into 2027.
October 2020
The city officially delayed the plan to close Rikers Island and build new jails until 2027.
November 2020
New York City Department of Correction officials announced the city would shut down the Manhattan Detention Complex, commonly known as “The Tombs,” in Lower Manhattan and the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers Island.
June 2021
The New York City Board of Correction approved new rules aimed at reducing the use of solitary confinement in city jails. The rules require inmates in punitive segregation to spend at least 10 hours outside of their cells a day and…
Read More: A timeline on the closure of Rikers Island