Overview
- At a business forum Wednesday, Andrew Cuomo proposed demolishing and replacing facilities on Rikers, offering free express buses and turning the four planned borough jail sites into housing and commercial developments.
- In a Friday TV interview, he said the 2027 deadline cannot be met and asserted the closure law would inevitably be violated because new jails are late, over budget, and undersized for current needs.
- The proposal runs counter to the 2019 law requiring Rikers’ shutdown and, with about 7,000 people in custody versus roughly 3,300–4,160 beds planned off-island, faces opposition from City Council allies and advocates who cite analyses that a rebuild would cost 8%–15% more and take longer.
- Reversing course would require Council action despite more than $15 billion already contracted or committed for borough facilities, with Brooklyn construction active and designs advancing in Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx.
- Rivals Zohran Mamdani and Curtis Sliwa criticized the shift, as federal oversight continues under a court-appointed monitor and judges consider deeper intervention following years of violence and delays.