Shuttering Rikers Island: The City’s Criminal Blunder

Mayor de Blasio and his City Council voted to close the much-needed jail on Rikers Island (“Rikers is now Shutter Island,” Oct. 18).

Now he is free to make deals with realestate interests, lining his pockets at the detriment and safety of all who dwell in our rotting Big Apple.

No one wants expanded neighborhood jails. Like the neighborhood homeless shelters, the jails will, no doubt, bring the few decent living areas in the city down. Great work, de Blasio. Robert Lobenstein Brooklyn

Despite politicians’ ridiculous announcement about replacing “mass incarceration with redemption,” vacating Rikers Island and building four new facilities remains an absurd, disruptive and extremely costly plan.

Perhaps Rikers Island facilities need upgrades, but this going to be a giveaway to some developers to build luxury housing with marinas and good views. P. Kumelowski Forest Hills

The City Council’s decision to back de Blasio’s disastrous plan to close Rikers will haunt the city for decades to come.

De Blasio’s plan, which the council now also owns as its policy, is illconceived and based on wildly unrealistic presumptions about crime in the city.

During my tenure as the director of media services with New York City Department of Correction under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, there was a 94 percent reduction in the number of violent incidents reported at Rikers Island, and facilities were managed efficiently and with a sense of order.

The answer to today’s serious problems on Rikers Island is to do what was done then: restore order, correct failed management and re-establish effective discipline of the inmate population in facilities. The money to build four new borough facilities should be used to rebuild new jails on Rikers. Closing the island is not the answer. John Mohan Boston, Mass.

De Blasio and the City Council need mental care. Aren’t there enough criminals on the streets? Closing this jail and opening other facilities does not solve the problem.

Mentally ill people should be hospitalized, treated and checked in on when (and if ) they are released. Criminals should be behind bars. Rikers is not the problem. The problem is the people managing the jail.

Wake up, de Blasio. You have done nothing but hurt this city, Please resign. Marilyn Perretti Staten Island

While I understand and agree that the conditions at Rikers Island are deplorable, the conditions for those living under in NYCHA are even worse.

The conditions under which they live are an even greater travesty than the criminals housed at Rikers Island have to endure: These families live with peeling lead paint, rats and roaches, no heat or hot water and leaking plumbing.

Where is the outrage of the City Council speaker, as well as other members who have taken up the cause of the Rikers inmates?

It seems to me that the $8 billion that might go to build four new jails, all with modern amenities, would be better spent on improving the lives of the NYCHA families. Alan Brooks Brooklyn

As the saying goes: The inmates are now running the asylum. The City Council and de Blasio are joyful that Rikers Island jail will be closing.

Instead of spending billions to build new jails, why wouldn’t they try improving conditions at Rikers?

Quality of life has gone down tremendously for law-abiding citizens. But now we can look forward to the thugs and vandals having a field day.

It seems we no longer can trust the Democratic Party to think about the decent people of this city. Once upon a time, I was a registered Democratic. Vote these morons out. S. Kane Brooklyn

The residents who are living in NYCHA apartments should remember the officials who voted for new jails instead of fixing their deplorable living conditions on election day. Susan Kurz Jericho