The biggest reason for the doubts about de Blasio’s devotion to closing Rikers is that doing so will require tough decisions in a policy area where this mayor faces unusually high expectations and especially acute risks.
A point of contention among the candidates is how much the DA’s office is currently doing to limit the use of bail in cases involving alleged misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies.
Amidst the splash created by Mayor de Blasio’s pledge to close Rikers, it’s somewhat surprising that there hasn’t been more attention to the future of broken-windows policing.
The city will sweat the details for a long time. But let’s give de Blasio his due for putting his stamp on history.
A veteran DOC officer writes: ‘We simply must develop the will to expend the money for services and staff, rather than on restraint chairs and solitary cells.’
Thirteen years after settling a case over mental-health discharge planning for people leaving Rikers, New York is getting closer to the goals it agreed to. But looming changes in federal policy could create new obstacles.
There’s new attention to problems diagnosing inmates at Rikers with mental illness. But what about people on the autism spectrum, with a low IQ or dealing with a learning disability?
A reform advocate, a former inmate and the head of the correction officers union discussed where the reforms of Rikers stand, whether they go far enough and what’s driving the surge in violence.
It’s not a rubber bullet. It’s not a plastic pellet. It’s a Star-Lite round.
A former corrections captain maps out a planning process that to create the community detention facilities New York needs.
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