Underneath the phrases of the receivership, the remediation supervisor — who shall be chosen from a listing of candidates submitted by the events earlier than an Aug. 29 deadline — may have sweeping authority to implement compliance.
REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photograph
Rikers Island will quickly be run by a court-appointed official after a federal choose on Tuesday ordered the troubled jail complicated into receivership — a uncommon and sweeping intervention meant to finish years of violence, mismanagement, and constitutional violations that the town didn’t right.
The choice makes Rikers Island the thirteenth jail or jail system within the nation to fall beneath federal receivership since 1979.
Chief US Decide Laura Taylor Swain’s Might 13 ruling adopted a November 2023 contempt discovering in opposition to the town for its failure to satisfy obligations beneath the 2015 Nunez v. Metropolis of New York consent decree. “The use of force rate and other rates of violence, self-harm, and deaths in custody are demonstrably worse than when the consent judgment… came down,” Swain wrote in a 77-page determination. In 2025 alone, 5 individuals died in custody at Rikers.
Underneath Decide Swain’s order, an unbiased remediation supervisor may have “the responsibility and authority to take all necessary steps to achieve Substantial Compliance” with the November contempt findings.
The appointee will function independently of each metropolis and federal officers and can reply solely to the courtroom. Events within the case should submit a listing of 4 proposed candidates for the function by Aug. 29. The supervisor will then have three years to deliver the jail into compliance.
The yet-to-be-named remediation supervisor shall be tasked primarily with eliminating constitutional violations inside the power, significantly these associated to unsafe situations and violence.
Rikers Island receivership ‘a measure of last resort’
FILE PHOTO: Rikers Island is seen on this aerial {photograph} taken in New York on October 31, 2012.REUTERS/Adrees Latif/File Photograph
In response to Hernandez Stroud, senior counsel within the Brennan Heart for Justice Program, their method will possible be formed by their relationships with stakeholders, together with metropolis companies, unions, and elected officers.
“This is a measure of last resort,” Stroud advised New York News. “Only after courts have attempted lesser remedial approaches can it turn to a receivership.”
As for the town’s long-term aim of shutting down Rikers by 2027, Stroud emphasised that the receivership and the closure timeline are “parallel but separate” efforts.
“Whether Rikers closes by a certain date is a political question. The court is just concerned with eliminating the constitutional violations,” Stroud stated, although he acknowledged the receiver might take steps that help closure.
“One thing that the judge mentioned in her opinion that she could have tried, but thought it would be premature, was the empanelment of a three-judge court that could issue a release order for Rikers,” Stroud stated. “In other words, you could have a court ruling that would require the jails to house fewer people. Swain also noted in her ruling that other potential remedies — such as jailing officials, levying fines, or ordering a population cap — would not have produced “sufficient constitutional change.”
The receivership might also intersect with a separate authorized dispute between the Adams administration and the Metropolis Council over a proposal to permit U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to return to Rikers.
Whereas the Division of Correction commissioner retains management over components of the jail unrelated to the litigation, the remediation supervisor may intervene “only if the remediation manager believes that the presence of ICE would implicate their work,” Stroud stated.
“The remediation manager will have jurisdiction over the policies and practices — use of force, for example,” he added. “You would have to imagine a scenario where the presence of ICE, if they’re allowed on Rikers… is implicated in the remediation manager’s work to reduce violence.”
On how the receivership would possibly have an effect on detainees, Stroud pointed to potential coverage, staffing, and infrastructure modifications. “There are doors on Rikers that don’t lock properly, so changes like that might come to the jail quicker,” he stated. “There could be a number of changes, but it’s hard to say specifically what they’ll look like or when they’ll materialize.”
Regardless of the size of the intervention, Stroud stated funds had been unlikely to be a limiting issue.
“This is a well-resourced, well-financed jail system,” he stated, citing metropolis spending of roughly $500,000 yearly per detainee.
He stated a very powerful final result is that the reforms carried out beneath receivership are “sustainable politically” and proceed even after the courtroom steps away.
“This process would be null and void if it results in changes that aren’t durable,” Stroud stated.
