Greater than 200 girls and transgender inmates at Rikers Island might be moved to state-run lockups to assist alleviate issues on the dysfunctional city jail, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Invoice de Blasio introduced Wednesday.
In a joint assertion, the mayor and governor stated that 230 girls and transgender Rikers detainees might be transferred within the coming weeks to the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and the Taconic Correctional Facility in Westchester — each run by the state Division of Corrections and Neighborhood Supervision.
The transfers, that are short-term, are slated to start subsequent week, in response to the press launch. The plan contains twice-a-week transfers of between 10 and 20 folks to the pair of Bedford Hills prisons.
“These actions will further help ease staffing concerns, capacity constraints, and improve safety for several hundred detainees until such time that the city can identify and implement a permanent solution that will bring justice to the situation at Rikers,” she stated.
“New York City is committed to forging a fairer, more humane justice system,” de Blasio stated within the assertion. “I’m proud to work with Governor Hochul on this initiative, which is able to present vital reduction for the scenario on Rikers.
“Our reform efforts on Rikers Island have made encouraging progress, and our borough-based jails plans are moving forward and will fully transform this system — but there is no substitute for immediate support from our State partners at this critical moment in time.”
In response to the preliminary plan, the town Division of Correction will start on Oct. 22 offering each day transportation from the 5 boroughs to the Westchester amenities for members of the family and family members of the folks held in custody.
Patrick Ferraiuolo, president of the Correction Captains’ Affiliation, stated the transfer “doesn’t make an ounce of sense.”
“They don’t know what they’re going to do with the new admissions, that’s the funny thing,” he scoffed.
He additionally famous that one of many key issues that has lengthy pushed calls to shutter Rikers — that the distant East River amenities are tough for attorneys and guests — is exacerbated beneath the governor and mayor’s maneuver.
“They talk about having borough facilities because of the convenience of the court. Now, they’re putting them almost two hours upstate, and they’re all detainees with court dates,” Ferraiuolo stated. “It’s insane.”
A dozen folks have died this yr alone within the metropolis’s troubled, short-staffed jail system, together with 11 on Rikers Island.
In response to the mounting disaster, de Blasio final month announced an “emergency plan” that features punishing absentee and AWOL correction officers.
Hochul, for her half, in September signed the Less is More Act, which stopped the state from detaining ex-cons for parole violations, and ordered the immediate release of 191 folks held at Rikers for comparable infractions.
Underneath the de Blasio administration’s $9 billion plan, Rikers is slated to close by 2027, and get replaced by 4 metropolis jails in every borough besides Staten Island.
