Hope NYC Never Hits the Deadline to Shut Down Rikers

Every time City Hall finalizes a contract for new jails to take the place of Rikers, the expected completion date seems to drift further away.

The ill-conceived plan to shut down Rikers never had any real logic, and it would be wise for politicians to reconsider and focus on refurbishing Rikers instead.

The most recent development is a $3.8 billion contract that delays the completion of the Chinatown facility until 2032.

This comes after recent agreements for sites in Queens and The Bronx pushed expected construction completion back to 2031, while the timeline for a Brooklyn jail has now been extended to 2029.

Typically, these projects never finish anywhere near on schedule; one should anticipate years of delays at best.

It’s worth noting that the original “vision” to close Rikers and create smaller jail facilities in each of the four boroughs, which received approval in 2019, aimed to shut down the island complex by 2027, just two years from now.

Here we are, five years into this plan and a full five years behind schedule; one can’t help but wonder where things will stand in another five years.

The reality is that no neighborhood wants a jail within its vicinity, and they have every right to feel that way: Jails are simply not suitable for residential areas.

Furthermore, the de Blasio-era plan for locating these facilities was fraught with other significant issues.

Most notably, the proposed four new jails would accommodate only around 4,000 inmates — a drastic reduction from Rikers’ current capacity of 15,000.

Back in 1990, the inmate population peaked at 21,000.

Although it dropped to 9,400 in 2017, it has recently stabilized around 6,000, thanks to lenient policies during COVID, which granted many offenders early release.

However, not holding enough offenders accountable has already driven crime rates up (major felonies surged by 30% last year compared to 2019).

We urgently need to imprison more criminals — not fewer.

The issue is that communities are already expressing anger over the planned new (but insufficiently sized!) jails; any attempts to enlarge these facilities could provoke major protests (or encourage people to leave the city entirely).

The staggering cost of this project — initially estimated at an astonishing $8.7 billion, and now nearing double that figure — is yet another serious concern.

The city, much like the state, is already facing overwhelming budget deficits in the coming years and should not be accumulating additional debt for an impractical project that no one except a handful of misguided progressives seems to support.

Rikers is certainly in need of improvement. However, that does not justify closing it and replacing it with too small, unsuitable facilities in neighborhoods that rightfully oppose their presence — especially at such an exorbitant cost.

Revitalizing Rikers rather than replacing it has always been the far more logical approach.

A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams, Liz Garcia, has stated that City Hall “remains committed” to shutting down Rikers but conceded that meeting the 2027 deadline is unlikely.

It’s not even remotely feasible: No replacement facilities will be ready by then.

When will the progressives confront reality, acknowledge that this entire endeavor is a farce, and concentrate on simply repairing the jail complex we currently have?

In the meantime, New Yorkers should hope for the deadlines of these new jails to keep getting postponed — indefinitely.