NEW YORK CITY—New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council leaders have announced a process and plan to close Rikers Island jails and replace them with a total of four sites in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx.

The plan's estimated 10-year timeline has created another back and forth battle between the mayor and Gov. Andrew Cuomo. A representative of the governor said the closures should be completed much more quickly, while the mayor contends that the closures could take place years earlier if the state enacts a number of criminal justice reforms.

The mayor stressed that the city will continue to look to reduce its jail population at Rikers, which currently averages approximately 9,000 daily. The plan calls for the relocation of prisoners from Rikers Island to the Manhattan Detention Center at 125 White St., the Brooklyn Detention Center at 275 Atlantic Ave., the Queens Detention Center at 126-01 82nd Ave. and the construction of a new facility at the current site of the NYPD Tow Pound at 320 Concord Ave. in the Bronx. The four sites will have the combined capability of housing a total of approximately 5,000 prisoners.

“This agreement marks a huge step forward on our path to closing Rikers Island,” said Mayor de Blasio. “In partnership with the city council, we can now move ahead with creating a borough-based jail system that's smaller, safer and fairer. I want to thank these representatives, who share our vision of a more rehabilitative and humane criminal justice system that brings staff and detainees closer to their communities.” The mayor and city council jointly announced plans to eventually close Rikers Island last March.

“Today is a historic day, as we are yet one step closer to closing Rikers Island. The New York City council is proud to have spearheaded the historic 'Close Rikers' movement by creating the Lippman Commission and passing legislation enacting many of its recommendations,” said City Council Speaker Corey Johnson. “The council has also funded innovative programming to keep cases out of the criminal justice system altogether, such as the CLEAR and HOPE programs, which provide treatment instead of incarceration to those with substance abuse issues.”

The four sites will need to go through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure, which will include hearings and recommendations by the respective local community boards, borough presidents, the city council and the city planning commission. Last week's agreement between the mayor and city council speaker will consolidate the proposal to renovate, expand or construct jails at the sites in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx into a single ULURP process, which will allow for a more expedited review.

An application could be submitted for certification as early as by the end of 2018, and the design process could begin as early as next summer, city officials stated. Perkins Eastman has been retained by the city to create a master plan and make recommendations for how to maximize capacity at each of the sites and design jails that best meet the needs of inmates, staff and communities.

Shortly after the Rikers Island agreement between the mayor and council speaker was announced, Alphonso David, special counsel to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, released a statement critical of the project's decade-long timeline.

“The crisis at Rikers Island Jail Complex is intolerable, and the city's administration and city council should never have agreed to a 10-year plan,” David said. “The governor has repeatedly said 10 years is too long because 'justice delayed is justice denied.' And with thousands of people impacted and many lives at risk, the city must go back to the drawing board and develop the political will to treat this as a priority.”

David did compliment the council speaker for suggesting the state provide the city design-build authority to accelerate the construction of the jails to replace Rikers. “This is the first positive step to actually expediting resolution and the governor will support it. However, no one believes 10 years is a good faith timeline. Building new jails is not that complicated if the city actually wanted to get it done,” he added. “Obviously, comprehensive reform of the criminal justice system is critical, and the governor has made it a priority every year and has accomplished much reform. But independent of the passage of additional criminal justice reforms, the issue before the city is a different one: it still needs to close Rikers and build new, acceptable facilities quickly.”

Mayor de Blasio countered that if the state legislature would enact criminal justice reforms, such as bail reform and speedier trial requirements, “we can speed this timeline up by years. There is no question about it.”

He later added, “But I want to also be scrupulously honest that those things aren't done yet, we've been – I think this is something we can all agree on, we've been disappointed in Albany before. So it's really going to be in the next four months the moment of truth for Albany, for everyone in Albany.”

Instant Insights /

City, State Spar Over Rikers Island Jail Closure Timeline

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