By Alexander Lekhtman at Filter Mag
May 15, 2025
A federal judge has made a historic decision to take control of the Rikers Island jail complex
away from the New York City government. An independent official will be appointed to run the
jails instead. This comes after years of advocacy and court battles, during which the city has
repeatedly failed to show improvement in safety or living conditions behind bars.
On May 13, Judge Laura Taylor Swain ruled that she will appoint an outside administrator to
resolve ongoing constitutional violations. Her 77-page decision explained that a new
“remediation manager” would have the authority to rewrite procedures and rules, hire staff and
take disciplinary action against employees who violate use-of-force policies.
“As the record in this case demonstrates, the current rates of use of force, stabbings and
slashings, fights, assaults on staff, and in-custody deaths remain extraordinarily high, and there
has been no substantial reduction in the risk of harm currently facing those who live and work in
the Rikers Island jails,” Judge Swain wrote.
A remediation manager differs from an independent receiver in name, but the judge emphasized
it will work much the same in practice. The Legal Aid Society, representing plaintiffs in the legal
case against the city, celebrated the ruling as a win. Per the judge’s order, the city will have to
work with the manager to reform the jails, with the manager having “ultimate authority.”
Judge Swain ordered the plaintiffs and the city government to propose four candidates each for
the position by August 29. She will ultimately choose which candidate to appoint. She rejected
the city’s pleas to keep current NYC Corrections Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie in place
as a “compliance director,” though Maginley-Liddie will continue to work with the incoming
remediation manager.
Mayor Eric Adams (D) said after the decision that he would follow whatever Swain ordered, but
sought to deflect blame from his own administration. “The problems at Rikers are decades in the
making. We finally got stability,” he said.
“It is a drastic and necessary measure to save lives. The independent receiver must move swiftly
and should be bound to the city’s legal mandate to shut Rikers. Anything less is unacceptable.”
Melanie Dominguez and Yonah Zeitz, co-directors of the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and
Justice, which has advocated for the rights of detainees and to shut Rikers down, criticized
Adams’ record while welcoming the judge’s decision.
“For decades, New Yorkers, including our members, have experienced the dangerous and deadly
conditions at Rikers,” they said in a statement. “Instead of following the law to shutter Rikers by
2027, Mayor Adams has worked to keep Rikers open. And during his administration, conditions
at Rikers have worsened. Nearly 40 people have died since Adams took office … Receivership is
a tool of last resort. In this instance, it is a drastic and necessary measure to save lives. The
independent receiver must move swiftly and should be bound to the city’s legal mandate to shut
Rikers. Anything less is unacceptable.”
Nearly 15 years of legal battles have preceded this move. In 2011, a group of teenagers filed suit
against the city, alleging that corrections officers severely beat them in areas of the jail shielded
from video cameras. In 2015, the city agreed to settle the case, entering a court-ordered
settlement to reform safety and use-of-force policies, install new surveillance cameras, and
appoint an independent monitor to assess the city’s progress.
The independent monitor repeatedly reported back to the court that the city was failing to
address persistent problems related to safety for incarcerated people and guards, provision of
health care and other issues. In November 2024, Judge Swain warned the city that she would
consider putting the jail under an independent receiver, finding it in contempt for failing to
implement changes on Rikers.
The 413-acre jail complex, located on the island in the East River, has a long history of abuse
and neglect. In October 2019, the New York City Council voted to close the facility by December
31, 2026. Included in that resolution was a plan to build a series of new “borough-based” jails
around the city as replacements. Mayor Adams promised while campaigning for office that he
would honor the council’s commitment to close Rikers.
But as Adams nears the end of his term, he has failed to fulfill that promise—and instead,
overseen an increase in the Rikers population, making it impossible to close the jails on the
scheduled timeline.
In March, local outlet The City reported that the jail’s population had risen to over 7,000, the
highest since 2019. It’s far above the city’s mandated targets, and the population would need to
decrease by several thousand people in order to follow the plan to transfer those who are left to
other jails. Construction of the new borough jails is also far behind schedule, and not expected to
be completed until at least 2032.