Andrew Cuomo wants to save Rikers Island

Candidate for mayor of New York Andreas Cuomo says he wants to save Rikers Islandthe infamous prison complex that has become a symbol of dysfunction in the city’s criminal justice system.

The city is required by law to close the jails at Rikers and replace them with four smaller, more modern jails by 2027, under a plan approved by the City Council six years ago. Officials at the time wanted Rikers gone for several reasons: It is crumbling, expensive, plagued by violence and far from the courthouses where inmates are regularly transported.

But the replacement project has stalled, costs have risen and is facing local opposition. Only one of the four new prisons, in Brooklyn, is under construction.

Cuomo, the former New York governor who is running as an independent mayor, said Wednesday he would scrap the plan to replace Rikers and rebuild instead.

“We can and must do both things at once: close Rikers as we know it, and rebuild it the right way,” Cuomo said.

Cuomo said he would rebuild Rikers jails one by one so operations could continue. He said the land where the replacement neighborhood jails would be built would be converted into affordable housing or mixed-use developments.

“Deadlines have passed for years, costs have doubled and, in the worst case, neighborhoods are forced to bear the government’s burden. Now is the time to admit the mistake before we dig deeper,” he said.

The Democratic Party’s mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdanitold reporters Wednesday that abandoning the plan to close Rikers would be a bad idea.

“Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to keep open what is broken, what is morally bankrupt, what is a stain on our city, is a betrayal not only of the law as it stands now, but also of what New Yorkers actually want,” Mamdani said.

Rikers Island was built on an island in the East River and was featured in the television series ‘Law & Order” and other crime shows and has housed high-profile inmates, including Harvey Weinstein. The facility was under intense scrutiny due to inmate deaths and allegations of neglect, leading to heavy federal scrutiny.

The incumbent mayor Eric Adamshas also questioned whether closing Rikers is the solution to its problems and urged the City Council to find an alternative as it became increasingly likely that the city would miss its deadline. Adams is not running for re-election.

The Republican candidate for mayor, Curtis Sliwahas said he would not allow Rikers Island to close and has called for prison renovations.

In a statement Wednesday, Jonathan Lippman, a former chief state judge who chairs a committee studying Rikers, said the prison “must be closed as quickly as humanly possible.” He added that more than 70 people detained at Rikers have died since the start of 2020 and the city spends more than $2.8 billion annually to operate the facility.

“Reconstruction at Rikers is deeply problematic, fiscally flawed and contrary to law and the current advanced state of contracts, funds invested and preparatory work already undertaken to build four new, more humane local jails in the city,” Lippman said.