The city has transferred land from three vacant jails under the Department of Correction (D)C), including the newly closed North Infirmary Command, to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) for the first time since the De Blasio administration.
This move ensures the facilities stay permanently shuttered and marks a key step toward closing Rikers Island, where the city jail population is held overwhelmingly, and moving toward housing people-in-custody in four “more humane” borough-based jails currently under construction. Local Law 16 of 2021, one of the three bills packaged in the Renewable Rikers Act, mandates these transfers, but the DOC under the previous Adams administration never turned over any land or a single facility, even after the island’s biggest jail — the Anna M. Kross Center — went offline.
“This is not just about closing facilities; it is about building a modern, state-of-the-art system that promotes dignity for staff and those in our care,” said DOC Commissioner Stanley Richards in a statement. “Now is the time to be ambitious and create a system that supports the lifesaving work of this Department while helping those in our care make meaningful changes that will allow them to thrive upon their return home.”
Richards eagerly vowed compliance with the Renewable Rikers mandate back in February in an interview with the AmNews after his appointment by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. The land transfer schedule occurs every six months, at the start and middle of the calendar year.
The Mamdani administration credits the North Infirmary Command’s closure to opening a “first-of-its-kind” medical housing unit for seriously ill people in custody through Bellevue Hospital. As its name implies, the now-shuttered jail previously contained Rikers Island’s hospital. The North Infirmary Command also held people who require protective custody, such as former law enforcement, sex offenders, and celebrities, including disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein.
Large swaths of the AMKC and the George Motchan Detention Center (GMDC) land were also transferred from the DOC to the DCAS. While the two no longer hold people in custody, a small portion will remain in use by the DOC. The AMKC boasts an important cafeteria that will stay in operation. Parts of the GMDC will be used for corrections department training purposes.
Last year, the Adams administration unsuccessfully attempted to reopen the AMKC after the city jail population spiked due to the illegal correctional officer strike in multiple state prisons. The holdout held up transfers for people already convicted of crimes to Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) facilities. The Adams administration also reopened another jail, the George R. Vierno Center, where multiple people in custody died last year. The land transfers will prevent any future opportunity to use these decommissioned facilities for detention.
“Close Rikers” Czar Dana Kaplan said the DOC took “all operational considerations” when reviewing the land transfers, particularly to account for the existing jail population. The closure plan already hinges on reducing the number of people on Rikers Island because the borough-based facilities can only hold 4,160 beds in total.
“We feel very comfortable that these buildings could be transferred over without any negative impact on operations at the Department of Corrections,” said Kaplan. “A huge piece of closing Rikers is also looking at the size of our jail population, and how we can ensure a more effective and equitable criminal legal system. “Work is already underway across the board with the courts, the district attorneys, and other city agencies to make sure that we are focused on safely reducing the jail population while we increase public safety on a parallel track to building the new facilities in the boroughs and closing jails on Rikers Island.”
Under Renewable Rikers, other agencies can examine how to repurpose the decommissioned jails for environmental efforts after a land transfer. The legislative package also requires the city to examine renewable energy, battery storage, and wastewater processing on the island, which is on the East River between the Bronx and Queens.
The city faces a seemingly unreachable deadline to close Rikers Island jails by the end of summer 2027. Construction contracts show the borough-based jails will not be built in time and as of this week, more than 6,500 people are incarcerated on Rikers. Kaplan said any conversation about moving the deadline will require the City Council, but the land transfers spell a clear direction for Mamdani, who inherits the ambitious undertaking from the De Blasio and Adams administrations.
“For decades, Rikers Island has represented one of the deepest failures of our City government,” Mamdani said in a statement. “It has failed people in custody, correction officers, and every New Yorker who believes our justice system should live up to its name. This milestone brings us closer to ending that chapter. We are replacing a system built around neglect with one centered on rehabilitation and accountability because public safety and human dignity are not competing values.”
