Mental Health and Safety Funding Boost Praised by City Council and Advocates; Urge Mayor Adams to Make Rikers Closure a Top Priority
In a bid to address the ongoing crisis at Rikers Island, the New York City Council, mental health advocates, and local legislators are urging Mayor Eric Adams to prioritise the closure of the jail complex. The call comes after a $50 million investment was allocated in the fiscal year 2026 city budget, specifically targeted at mental health and safety initiatives.
The funds, celebrating the approval of City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, aim to expand mental health care programs, enhance safety solutions, reduce the jail population, and address the crisis of Rikers becoming a de facto mental health facility. Over half of the incarcerated population at Rikers has been diagnosed with a mental illness, making it one of the largest providers of psychiatric care in the country.
The investment is seen as a crucial step, but it must be urgently and comprehensively implemented to meet the overarching goal of closing Rikers and improving inmate health and safety. The situation remains critical as Rikers continues to report deaths and constitutional violations, leading to federal receivership and increased scrutiny on the city’s failure to reform conditions.
In a statement, Liz Garcia, First Deputy Press Secretary for the Mayor, wrote that Mayor Adams believes upstream solutions and addressing mental health issues through the health care system, not jail cells, are the best ways to keep people out of jail. The Mayor's administration has also committed to making additional investments to help keep vulnerable New Yorkers out of jail and in their communities.
The investments include funds for mental health response teams, crisis centers, and anti-recidivism initiatives. Additionally, the administration has pledged to open hundreds of hospital jail beds to provide treatment outside jail facilities and expand the 6-A Work Release Program to safely reduce the jail population amid overcrowding.
However, current efforts to legally close the Rikers Island jail complex by the city’s 2027 deadline are facing significant challenges, including ongoing jail overcrowding, violence, and delays in building new borough-based jails. Despite a 2017 roadmap aiming for closure by 2027, recent reports and commissions admit this deadline is now likely impossible to meet due to staffing shortages, violence, and delayed jail construction.
Speaker Adams has called on Mayor Eric Adams to prioritize the implementation of the allocated funds and the legally-mandated closure of the Rikers Island jail complex. Council Member Linda Lee stated that Rikers has become one of the largest providers of psychiatric care in the country, a situation that should no longer be tolerated.
Jail reform advocates and local legislators have long accused New York City of failing to adequately monitor conditions at Rikers. In June, two inmate deaths at Rikers within 78 minutes prompted an investigation from the Department of Correction into conditions at the facility. The situation escalated further in May when a judge ruled to place Rikers under federal receivership due to a failure at the city level to remediate "the ongoing violations of the constitutional rights of people in custody in the New York City jails."
The call for action comes as the city grapples with the reality that one in five inmates at Rikers have been diagnosed with a serious mental health condition. The investment in mental health and safety initiatives is a step towards addressing this issue and ensuring that vulnerable New Yorkers receive the care they need without having to endure the harsh conditions of Rikers Island.
- The New York City Council, mental health advocates, and local legislators are pressing Mayor Eric Adams to prioritize closure of the Rikers Island jail complex, following a $50 million investment in fitness-and-exercise, mental-health, health-and-wellness, and workplace-wellness programs in the fiscal year 2026 city budget.
- The expansion of mental health care programs aims to reduce the jail population, address the crisis of Rikers becoming a de facto mental health facility, and improve the overall health and wellness of the incarcerated population, many of whom have been diagnosed with a mental illness.
- Politics and policy-and-legislation play a significant role in the efforts to close Rikers Island, with Speaker Adams urging Mayor Adams to implement the allocated funds and legally mandate the jail's closure by the city’s 2027 deadline.
- General-news outlets have reported on the critical situation at Rikers Island, with ongoing deaths, constitutional violations, and delays in building new jails creating challenges for the closure timeline. The delays have led to increased scrutiny on the city's failure to reform conditions and have prompted calls for action.
- Crime-and-justice advocates argue that investing in therapies-and-treatments, such as mental health response teams, crisis centers, and anti-recidivism initiatives, will help ensure that vulnerable New Yorkers receive the care they need outside of jail facilities, reducing the need for incarceration and ultimately improving the overall health and wellness of city residents.
