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yesterday

Cuomo Pitches Rebuilding Jails on Rikers, Abandoning Borough-Based Plan

City law still requires Rikers’ closure by 2027.

FILE - The Rikers Island jail complex in the Bronx borough of New York, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)
The Rikers Island jail complex stands in New York, with the Manhattan skyline in the background, June 20, 2014.
FILE - Mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo speaks to supporters during a Democratic primary watch party, June 24, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)
FILE - An aerial view of the Rikers Island jail complex, July 10, 2024, in the Bronx borough of New York. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

Overview

  • At a Crain’s forum, the independent mayoral candidate proposed demolishing and rebuilding on Rikers, offering free express buses and turning planned borough jail sites into housing and commercial projects.
  • The plan conflicts with a 2019 City Council mandate to shutter Rikers, would require legislative reversal, and runs up against more than $15 billion already committed to borough-jail contracts.
  • A March report from the Independent Rikers Commission found rebuilding on the island would likely take longer and cost 8%–15% more due to environmental, access and operational constraints.
  • Rikers remains under a federal monitor in the Nunez case, with courts considering receivership after detainee deaths and ongoing safety failures as the jail population hovers near 7,000.
  • Reaction was swift: Council leadership labeled the idea a political ploy, Democrat Zohran Mamdani reaffirmed support for borough jails, and Republican Curtis Sliwa blasted Cuomo’s reversal despite backing improvements on Rikers.