Panel: Can ax Rikers by ’24

A BLUE RIBBON panel that provided a roadmap last year for shuttering Rikers Island issued an update Thursday revealing that the jails could close faster than previously thought.

The Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform said in its report that the island’s jails could be shut and replaced by borough facilities by 2024 — three years sooner than its initial projection.

The commission attributed the accelerated timeline to a number of factors, including Rikers’ jail population shrinking by 10% to 8,900 in the past year and half. It also credited the state for expediting the process to build borough detention centers to replace Rikers.

To stay on track with a 2024 closure, the city must continue to reduce the number of people in jail, the panel said.

The report has urged the state Legislature to reform the current cash bail system as a way to cut the population on Rikers.

The accelerated timeline would reduce the cost of shuttering Rikers by $700 million to $9.85 billion, according to the commission.