Mayor says city should fix Rikers, not court-appointed receiver
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Mayor Eric Adams said the city should be the one to fix Rikers Island, not a court-appointed receiver, several days after the Legal Aid Society officially asked a federal judge to take control over the troubled jail complex away from the city. Photo by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
By Jacob Kaye
In his first public comments since the Legal Aid Society officially asked a federal judge to strip control of Rikers Island away from the city, Mayor Eric Adams said that the troubled jail complex is better off in the city’s hands.
Speaking with reporters on Tuesday, the mayor said that he “wants the job of repairing Rikers,” and pushed back against the idea that the jail complex where over two dozen people have died since he took office would be better off under the control of a court-appointed receiver.
Repeating a claim he often says while defending his administration’s management of Rikers, Adams said on Tuesday that he has been to the jail complex “more than any mayor in the history of this city.” As such, he said the city, under his leadership, should be the ones to reform the jail complex.
“I believe it could be repaired,” Adams said.
The mayor has been opposed to the prospect of a federal receivership ever since it was first requested by the Legal Aid Society in 2022. Federal Judge Laura Swain denied that request and ordered the city, the Department of Correction and the federal monitor appointed in 2015 to track conditions in Rikers to create and implement an “action plan.” But in the year that has followed, the DOC has largely been able to turn the tide on Rikers Island.
Though the jail has seen a reduction in staff absenteeism and several other metrics, it has also seen a number of violent conditions persist – use of force incidents, which is what the ongoing lawsuit Nunez v. the City of New York is centered around, have been more frequent and more severe in the past year than they were in 2015 when the consent judgment was reached in the case.
Citing the persistent violence in the jail – as well as the Adams administration’s alleged unwillingness to work with the monitor and other oversight bodies to fix the jails – the Legal Aid Society was allowed by Swain to officially file for federal receivership, which they did on Friday.
As of this week, New York City has never been closer to the potential of losing major parts of control of the management of Rikers Island.
Nonetheless, Adams and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks heaped praise onto DOC Commissioner Louis Molina on Tuesday for his work leading the agency, which is expected to come to an end at some point this month.
“Molina has moved us into the right direction,” the mayor said. “We want to continue that, and we're going to continue that.”
At the start of the month, Adams announced that Molina would be given an apparent promotion, and serve as Banks’ second in command. The mayor suggested that the DOC would remain under Molina’s perview, but did not specify what his role in leading the agency would be.
The administration has said that Molina would be moved to City Hall at some point in November, declining to give a specific date for his transition. But with a little more than a week left in the month, the move has yet to happen and a successor at DOC has yet to be named.
Both Banks and Adams appeared to bristle at a suggestion from a reporter on Tuesday that the DOC was without a commissioner.
“Molina is the Department of Correction commissioner, he hasn’t left one day, he hasn’t left one minute, he hasn’t even taken a vacation since [his promotion] was reported,” Banks said. “So, report that.”
Adams also pushed back when a reporter suggested that there was a lack of leadership at the agency.
“Let's be clear, in every agency, there is a deputy commissioner and the natural ascension of positions is crucial in every agency,” Adams said. “Even when there's not a commissioner, there's an acting commissioner. Someone is always in charge.”
However, there does appear to be confusion about who is leading the agency.
Last week, Swain blasted the DOC in a judicial order after the agency allegedly opened up a unit meant to house detainees accused of arson without first consulting the federal monitor, who detailed the episode in a letter to the judge.
In her order, Swain said that the monitor’s letter “particularly in light of the current commissioner’s recent announcement of his intent to resign…raises profound questions that demand answers about the management of the department.”
DOC Commissioner Louis Molina was defended by Mayor Eric Adams on Tuesday amid a bid to strip the city of its control over Rikers Island. File photo by John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit
Swain also demanded in the order that the DOC provide her with the names of the people who authorized the opening of the unit, as well as the names of the people who were responsible for telling the monitoring team about the opening of the unit.
She also ordered the DOC to tell her the “names of the individuals who are currently functioning as commissioner and senior deputy commissioner of the department, as well as when — and what — changes in those personnel are contemplated.”
The federal judge gave the city until Nov. 28 to respond to her questions.
But the answers have yet to be presented to the public.
Neither Adams nor Banks gave any indication about when Molina will be moving to City Hall or about who is in line to replace him on Tuesday.
“I think [Molina] is a great public servant and the next commissioner is going to continue the work that he's doing,” the mayor said.
