A confirmation has come in that New York City council is in full support of Mayor De Blasio's motion to close down Riker's Island. The latter was reported by the Global Grind, who deduced the following comments from the NY Post: "De Blasio has made it a goal to reduce the number of inmates held in city jails as part of his vision for criminal-justice reform — and closing Rikers and building the new facilities is part of that." Mayor De Blasio's efforts to shut down Rikers are dated. In fact, we reported on Jay Z supporting the mayor back in 2017 in his decision to do so as the controversial establishment has been known for its violence and corruption. The institution was centre to Hov's documentary on the late Kalief Browder, who committed suicide at the age of 22 after experiencing severe PTSD from his time at Rikers.
Now with the support of the council backing up the mayor, we are hoping the detention centre will be no more. While many are happy with this news, others claim that the institution itself is not the issue, but the criminal justice system as a whole. Councilman Andy King shared an interesting perspective to the issue: "If we want to fix the criminal justice system, then let’s fix the criminal-justice system and be honest and true about us correcting that system — and not blame it on the brick and mortar of Rikers Island."
We expect more details on this in the future.
