NYC elected officials rip Mayor Adams over ‘inconsistent’ plan to close Rikers Island by 2027

In an unusually forceful rebuke, Mayor Adams’ two fellow citywide elected officials and the City Council speaker joined Thursday to blast what they see as his wavering commitment to shut down Rikers Island by a 2027 deadline.

The deadline was established by City Council legislation signed into law by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2019. But in a contract notice published this week, Adams’ administration revealed it does not expect a replacement jail in Brooklyn to be completed before 2029.

That admission prompted city politicians to question how the city will close Rikers in line with the law.

“The inconsistent statements from the administration over the past few days have unacceptably created questions where there should be no questions,” said City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams.

“Rikers must close by 2027 and we cannot allow it to continue undermining public safety issues across our city,” the speaker said.

Adams was joined at a news conference outside City Hall by Comptroller Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who like Mayor Adams are elected citywide. They also voiced disapproval of the Rikers waffling.

Williams, a progressive Democrat who has largely refrained from directly criticizing Mayor Adams despite their ideological differences, said he’s had qualms about the mayor’s fidelity to shuttering Rikers since early last year.

“The administration already said from the jump they’re not even sure they agree with the plan. So this seems a little coincidental to find a reason to stall,” Williams said of the Brooklyn jail construction delay.

Spokesmen for the mayor did not return requests for comment after the City Hall Park news conference.

In spite of the delayed Brooklyn jail construction timeline, Mayor Adams and his advisers have insisted that the administration is committed to closing Rikers by April 2027, as required by law.

Construction timelines for the three other Rikers replacement jails in Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan have not been released.

The Brooklyn jail, set to be built at the site of the old House of Detention on Atlantic Avenue, wouldn’t be finished until April 2029 under the $2.96 billion contract Adams’ administration plans to award Tutor Perini, one of the country’s largest construction firms.

Asked Wednesday how Rikers could close by 2027 given the 2029 timeline for the Brooklyn complex, Mayor Adams told the Daily News that just “because something is not completely finished does not mean that you cannot [house] inmates” there.

Speaker Adams steered clear Thursday of commenting on the mayor’s suggestion that the city could house inmates in a partially completed jail. But she told reporters: “Whatever things look like down the road, we are going to stick with compliance of the law.”

The mayor has raised eyebrows by saying repeatedly in recent months that he believes the plan to shutter Rikers is “flawed.” He has also said the city may need a “Plan B,” though he hasn’t explained what that would look like.

At the same time, the jail population on Rikers has grown during the COVID-19 pandemic, and currently stands at nearly 6,000. Close to all inmates on the island have not been convicted of any crimes and are detained pretrial.

The swelling Rikers population adds another fraught wrinkle to the borough-based jail plan, as the four facilities in Queens, the Bronx, Manhattan and Brooklyn are supposed to have a combined capacity of 3,300.

Meantime, inmate advocates say conditions on Rikers are only growing worse. Nineteen Rikers inmates died in 2022, marking the deadliest year on the island in nearly three decades, and staffing breakdowns were factors in a number of the fatalities, according to Board of Correction reports.

Lander lamented that the Adams administration hasn’t turned to him and other city officials for help to resolve construction delays.

The comptroller also said there are immediate steps the administration should take to wind down operations on Rikers, including stopping intake at the island’s all-female Rose Singer Center.

“I didn’t talk to one person at Rosie’s that needed to be in detention,” Lander said of a recent visit to the facility. “In 2023, we could close Rosie’s.”

Speaker Adams agreed: “Administration, advocates, City Council — let’s work together to ensure that public safety is upheld by the closure of Rikers, finally.”

The Rikers-related friction between the mayor and the speaker — who are not related — comes as the two have lately clashed at an increasing rate over a range of issues, including funding for city welfare and housing agencies.

Underscoring her commitment to the Rikers issue, Adams plans to personally chair a Council hearing next week on the Department of Correction budget, an unusual role for a speaker.

“Any other committee member could chair the hearing, but the speaker chose to do it herself because the close Rikers issue is a priority for her,” an aide to the speaker said.

With Graham Rayman