Let the Feds Fix Rikers

By Tuesday, the city needs to submit to federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain its plan for fixing the deadly conditions at the Rikers Island jail complex. Southern District prosecutors are pushing for a receiver to take charge. They’re right, and Mayor Adams should embrace the opportunity.

The feds are fed up after decades of city failure to improve Rikers, which just saw its fourth detainee death of the year. Adams is resisting receivership, which will likely at least delay it for years.

The mayor wants to give new Correction Commissioner Louis Molina a “fair shot” at cleaning up the mess. But the only truly fair move, for Molina as well as Rikers’ entire population and workforce, is to agree to a receiver who can drastically speed up the needed changes.

Dashawn Carter, 25, found dead in his cell last weekend, was the fourth detainee to die in 2022, atop 16 last year. Slashings and beat-downs of inmates and guards by out-of-control gangbangers are frequent.

This nightmare’s been years in the making; Adams himself has blasted the “generational problems” at Rikers. The last mayor ignored the horrors, hiding behind dubious plans to just replace the jail with new ones. Adams doesn’t own the mess yet. But he will if he blocks receivership.

The prosecutors have it right: A receiver would have the power “to implement sweeping reforms” that Molina can’t, including temporarily override of union contracts to end the rampant abuse of sick leave that’s left the jails short-staffed.

On any given day, 1,400-plus guards are out “sick.” Molina’s made some progress, but no commissioner could move fast enough. A scathing city Board of Correction report on this year’s first three Rikers deaths found they happened when the staffing crisis left housing areas unsupervised.

But it’s not just the staffing crisis: A receiver can also override city procurement rules, which can make it take years to do something as simple and vital as replacing broken cell doors and locks.

The courts have already set federal monitors over Rikers, but monitors run up huge tabs without changing much. And Adams’ new Rikers task force can’t possibly change enough, fast enough. The dysfunction is too great and too deep.

Chicago agreed to federal receivership for its jails, and saw rapid improvement. It’d be inhumane (again, to city workers as well as detainees) for New York to stand on its pride and refuse.

With all the fires left burning by his predecessor, the mayor has enough crises on his plate already. Agreeing to a temporary federal takeover of city jails will let him focus on the schools, streets, subways and local economy — areas where the voting public is demanding action.

Accept the help, sir: You’ll save lives at Rikers and make the rest of your job saving the city a little easier.