Adrift from Rikers Island
Eager to get on the bus before it formally left the station, Mayor de Blasio joined Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito to urge shuttering the dirty, dangerous and toofar-removed jails at Rikers Island. In that March announcement, he proclaimed, “It will take many years. It will take many tough decisions along the way, but it will happen.”
Tough decisions de Blasio, now leading the brigades, shows little to no willingness to make.
A 53-page tome he calls his “road map to closing Rikers Island” suggests neither the courage nor conviction to follow through — maybe not even a viable path.
In broad terms, de Blasio suggests he agrees with retired Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, whose independent commission issued the clarion call to shutter the jails.
Its prescription was plain: Shrink the jail population to 5,000 or so through a series of reforms, then house those who are serving short sentences or who present too much of a flight risk at new or refurbished jails located near the courthouses in each borough.
Heck, Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn already have sites used past or present for that purpose, accepted for years as part of the fabric of bustling business districts.
Local Council members say they’re willing to consider expansion. What about de Blasio? While wanting political courage points for calling for Rikers closure, he’s weaseled away from tough calls.
Off the bat he ruled out situating any facility on Staten Island. Since then, he has said little more about what comes next — proposing in the blueprint only “a smaller network of modern jails” whose very existence will depend “on the willingness of neighborhoods and elected officials to identify appropriate new sites.” This is punting on first down. Then, read the fine print on that supposedly make-or-break push to bring the inmate population down to 5,000, without which consigning Rikers to history is a pipe dream.
De Blasio’s criminal justice experts believe they can shrink the jail population from more than 9,000 to around 7,000 in five years by expanding existing efforts like supervised release and mental health programs, with cooperation from prosecutors and judges essential.
Not easy, but do-able. Then comes the hard and potentially dangerous part.
Getting from 7,000 to the 5,000 deemed containable off Rikers will require, says the blueprint, “a seismic shift in culture and expectations by New Yorkers and the justice system.” Oh.
Key will be keeping those facing felony charges and chronic offenders out of jail by the thousands, through electronic monitoring and the like.
If heavily guarded jails will be political hell to find sites for, just wait for public reaction to freerange felons living next-door.
De Blasio is politically astute enough to know that. Is he politically bold enough to lead the city toward a goal he claims is morally necessary?
Don’t bet on it.