Thank you, Chair Selvena N. Brooks-Powers, for holding this New York City Council Committee on Criminal Justice oversight hearing on mental health care in New York City jails. My name is Yonah Zeitz, I’m the advocacy director at the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice, based in Brooklyn. Our members are from across the city, and include people who have been incarcerated, family members of currently and formerly incarcerated people, and more. Many of our members know exactly how horrific Rikers is and are deeply troubled that the closure plan is off track.
We submit this testimony to bring your attention to the mental health crisis taking place on Rikers and the need to shutter the notorious and deadly jail complex. Since the City Council passed the law to close Rikers Island in the fall of 2019, over 75 people have died in city jails. At least 8 people have died in DOC custody this year alone. Violence at Rikers is out of control, and conditions at Rikers have long been horrific.[i]
Along with deteriorating conditions and lack of safety, NYC’s jail population saw an increase of over 1,300 between 2022 and 2025 – the first sustained increase in decades. Today, more than 6,600 people are incarcerated in city jails.[ii] Reducing the city’s jail population was central to advancing the closure of Rikers, and this drastic increase shows how the previous administration ignored and undermined the closure plan, which is now off track and significantly delayed.[iii]
The increased jail population has coincided with a ballooning sub-population in need of mental health treatment. Today, Rikers is the largest mental health facility in New York City and among the largest in the country. Roughly 60% of New Yorkers held at Rikers have needed mental health services, 22% are diagnosed with a serious mental illness, and 25% suffer from an opioid disorder.[iv] The conditions at Rikers are horrific and life-threatening for incarcerated people, and proper care isn’t being delivered. Evidence and research have long shown that mental health programming in the community is dramaticallycheaper and more effective than incarceration. Reducing the number of people incarcerated at Rikers with mental health issues must be prioritized by the city council and the Mamdani administration if they are committed to closing Rikers.
As the humanitarian crisis at Rikers continues, New Yorkers’ tax dollars are being used to perpetuate this violence. According to the City’s Comptroller’s Office, the cost of incarceration at Rikers is more than $500,000 per person per year, which is $1,390 a day.[v] Incarcerating people in these inhumane conditions does not create safer communities, nor does it address survivors’ needs. Investing in alternatives to incarceration, including for those with mental health issues, has been proven to significantly reduce recidivism compared to jail and prison, and it also allows survivors to see the people who harm them held accountable and forge a pathway forward to create safer communities.[vi]
While we support all the bills proposed at today’s oversight hearings, none of them address the heart of the issue. To save lives and close Rikers, the city council must pass legislation to reduce the number of people being sent to Rikers with mental health issues and pass legislation to get people currently incarcerated released to receive treatment in the community.
There are proven solutions to safely reduce the jail population and advance closure that the city must fund and implement. In November 2025, we issued a report with the Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay titled, “Rikers Island and Mental Health: Pathways Toward Community-Based Diversion and Jail Population Reduction.” To reduce the number of people incarcerated at Rikers with a mental health diagnosis and advance the closure plan, this report lays out a 15-point plan focused on advancing community-based diversion from Rikers through:
- City-Led Continuum of Expanded Diversion Options
- Alternatives for People at All Stages of Mental Competency Proceedings
- Greater Access to Mental Health Courts
- Effective Linkages from Courts and Jails to Community-Based Treatment
- Hospital-Based Secure Therapeutic Beds in Lieu of Rikers
Research from the Vera Institute for Justice ahead of this year’s city budget aligned with the recommendations of our mental health report and called on the mayor and city council to increase investments in the following programs:
- Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) teams and Forensic Assertive Community Treatment (FACT) teams, to scale up community-based mental health treatment and eliminate long waitlists for care
- Low-barrier housing, accompanied by a commitment to assess the need for transitional reentry housing and fund additional units accordingly;
- Alternatives to incarceration (ATI) and reentry services, including expanding programs serving court-involved young people with mental
- B-HEARD funding to make non-police mental health crisis response available 24 hours a day within its current operating boundaries and include peer specialists, who would bring valuable expertise to response teams.”[vii]
These recommendations offer clear, proven solutions to address the mental health crisis in city jails, safely reduce the jail population, and ensure people receive the effective care they deserve. Yet, the FY2027 budget fell short of making the types of investments needed to reduce the number of people incarcerated with mental health issues and advance closure.
We urge this council to focus on three things: first, cut the budgets used for caging people – the DOC budget is bloated, wasteful, and must be cut. The city must also reduce the number of people incarcerated at Rikers by implementing the recommendations outlined above. Second, the closure of Rikers is not just a moral and legal imperative, but given the extraordinary savings that can be realized, it is also a fiscal imperative. The Council must pass legislation and budgets that advance efforts to shutter the notorious jail complex. Third, we must increase investments in things that produce real community safety: housing, healthcare, including mental health, education, and jobs. The city must also invest in responses to violence that are survivor-centered, accountability-based, safety-driven, and racially equitable.
The City Council must use its legislative and budgetary power to advance the closure of Rikers and hold the mayor accountable to the closure law. Lives are at stake.
[i] Reuven Blau. “Assaults, Chaos and Deception: New Rikers Report Details Widespread Dysfunction.” The City. January 14, 2026 https://www.thecity.nyc/2026/01/14/rikers-monitor-report-assaults-violence/
[ii] For the data, see Vera Institute for Justice. “New York Criminal Legal System Hub .” September 21, 2026. https://www.vera.org/ny-data-hub/Jail.
[iii] Independent Rikers Commission, “A Path Forward: The Blueprint to Close Rikers.” A More Just NYC. March 2025. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5b6de4731aef1de914f43628/t/6802a228b5619e3f5bafd0cf/1745003055967/Independent+Rikers+Commission+Blueprint+to+Close+Rikers+Island+March+2025.pdf
[iv]John Jay College, Data Collaborative for Justice and the Katal Center for Equity, Health, and Justice. Rikers Island and Mental Health: Pathways Toward Community-Based Diversion and Jail Population Reduction. November 2025 https://katalcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Rikers-Island-and-Mental-Health-Pathways-Toward-Community-Based-Diversion-and-Jail-Population-Reduction-11.19.25.pdf
[v] New York City Comptroller. “Ensuring Timely Trials.” July 16, 2024. https://comptroller.nyc.gov/reports/ensuring-timely-trials/
[vi] Common Justice. “How and Why Many Survivors Benefit From Restorative Justice Alternatives to Incarceration.” January 21, 226. https://commonjustice.org/resource/how-and-why-many-survivors-benefit-from-restorative-justice-alternatives-to-incarceration
[vii] Vera Institute for Justice, “A Look Inside the Fiscal Year 2027 New York City Department of Correction Budget.” March 2026. https://vera-institute.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/publications/A-Look-Inside-the-FY-2027-New-York-City-Department-of-Correction-Budget.pdf?dm=1773851668