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U.S. NEWS Friday 18 OctOber 2019

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Plan to close notorious Rikers jail complex by 2026 approved

NEW YORK (AP) — New years at Rikers, and Layleen
York City lawmakers voted Polanco , a transgender
Thursday to close the noto- woman who was found
rious Rikers Island jail com- dead in her cell at Rikers
plex, which has become last June.
synonymous with violence But some opponents of the
and neglect, and replace plan said they don't want
it with four smaller jails in- the city to build any new
tended to be more modern jails. "There is nothing in
and humane. the plan that guarantees
The City Council voted 36- closing Rikers," said Coun-
13 to replace the complex cilman Carlos Menchaca,
with four smaller jails locat- who voted no. "I do not
ed closer to the city's main trust this mayor. Do you?"
courthouses in Manhattan, The vote on the plan was
Brooklyn, the Bronx and disrupted by anti-jail ac-
Queens. tivists who chanted "If you
Rikers is scheduled to shut- build it they will fill it" and
ter by 2026, ending a de- threw flyers from the bal-
cadeslong run as one of cony.
the world's largest jails. City officials say a steep
"Rikers island is a symbol drop in the jail popula- This June 20, 2014 file photo shows the Rikers Island jail complex in New York with the Manhattan
of brutality and inhuman- tion has made it feasible skyline in the background.
ity and it is time for us to to close Rikers, a complex Associated Press
once and for all close Rik- of 10 jails on an island be-
ers Island," said City Council tween Queens and the lent arrests. Once the law tacks on other people. land, making it easier for
Speaker Corey Johnson, a Bronx that mainly houses goes into effect in January, "What is clear is that pro- the inmates to receive vis-
Democrat who shepherd- inmates awaiting trial. far fewer poor people will gressive social policies its from lawyers and fam-
ed the plan through the With falling crime rates, the be held in jail while await- gave Santos the freedom ily members who will no
Council. "As a city we must number of people incarcer- ing trial. to feed his addictions and longer have to travel to an
do everything we can to ated in the city on a daily Critics of the plan, how- nurture his insanity — until island. The plan met some
move away from the failed basis has declined from ever, say fewer cells may he murdered four innocent resistance from residents of
policies of mass incarcera- a high of nearly 22,000 in mean more violent crimi- people," Barron wrote in neighborhoods surrounding
tion." 1991 to about 7,000 today. nals on city streets. the institute's City Journal . the jail sites. City Council
Mayor Bill de Blasio and City officials announced Seth Barron, project direc- The plan calls for moving leaders announced Tues-
other Democrats support this week that they be- tor of the NYC Initiative at inmates to four new or ex- day they would decrease
the plan, which has a price lieve they can shrink the jail the Manhattan Institute, panded jails in each city the heights of the planned
tag of more than $8 billion, population even further by a conservative think tank, borough except Staten Is- jails to win support.q
in part because of a be- 2026, to just 3,300 prisoners. questions whether the city
lief that in an age of falling Backers of the jail overhaul can really drive incarcera-
crime rates, huge jails are say they expect the city's tion rates as low as they
part of the public safety jail population will keep want without compromis-
problem rather than part dropping because of crimi- ing public safety.
of the solution."This is one nal justice reforms. "It's not clear how they're
of those moments where a Several district attorneys going to get these num-
cycle gets broken. There's in the city have said they bers and it's politically driv-
been a cycle of incarcera- are no longer prosecuting en," Barron said. "It's a big
tion," de Blasio said at a small-time marijuana pos- risk because we've already
news conference after the session cases. The police taken all the nonviolent
vote. He added, "It ends department, after ages of people out of Rikers."
now. That cycle ends now." measuring officers by how Barron blames the effort
Members of the Council many people they put in to empty the city's jails for
spoke in emotional terms handcuffs, has slashed ar- the beating deaths of four
about the significance of rests for misdemeanors as homeless men in Manhat-
closing Rikers. Councilman officers have been encour- tan's Chinatown this month.
Daniel Dromm invoked the aged to write tickets for Randy Santos, the man
names of former inmates minor offenses, rather than charged with attacking
who have died including drag people to jail. the men as they slept, had
Kalief Browder , who took A new state law is set to been recently freed from
his own life at age 22 af- eliminate cash bail for most jail after several arrests for
ter being held in for three misdemeanor and nonvio- previous, less serious at-