New York City Building a Skyscraper Jail to Replace Rikers Island Facility (Video)

In this 2 January 2025 video, New York City resident Cash Jordan focuses on how NYC is building the world’s tallest jail to replace Rikers Island in Manhattan’s Chinatown neighborhood. Although it will be a sight to behold if ever completed, it is a controversial project which threatens the stability of nearby buildings as well as causing area residents to claim their neighborhood is a dumping ground for undesirable NYC public works initiatives.

https://youtu.be/NkW3JZx7wEg

Descriptions Source: https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2024/12/timeline-closure-rikers-island/376662/

The Rikers Island complex, which consists of ten jails, holds local offenders who are awaiting trial, serving sentences of one year or less, or are temporarily placed there pending transfer to another facility.

Rikers Island is a 413-acre prison island in the East River in the Bronx that contains New York City’s largest jail. Named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664, the island was originally under 100 acres in size, but has since grown to more than 400 acres.

The capacity of the four borough-based jails intended to replace Rikers Island has grown to 4,160 beds from the initial 3,300 beds, but even that number still falls far short of the roughly 6,500 people who were incarcerated in New York City jails as of 1 October 2024.

The city has also made little progress so far in building the four facilities. Costs to build the borough-based jails have ballooned over the past year and documents associated with the Queens and Bronx facilities show construction may not be completed until 2031.

New York City jails have a long history of abuse and negligence toward the incarcerated population. Rikers was heavily criticized in the 1970s and ’80s for overpopulation, dangerous conditions and violence against incarcerated adolescents. Under then-New York City Mayor Ed Koch, the public began calling for the island to be closed. Those calls have only amplified in recent years as violence, dangerous conditions, understaffing and self-harm skyrocketed, pushing then-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to support plans to shut down the facility.

The city has continued to struggle to manage conditions under Adams as it attempts to convince a federal judge not to strip leaders of their authority over the jails. 

All this comes as it looks increasingly unlikely that New York City officials will shutter Rikers Island by the legally mandated August 2027 deadline.