Plan to Shutter Rikers Island Jails Could Endanger New Yorkers: Report

City's plan would shrink inmate capacity from 15,000 to 3,300 beds

Demonstrators call for the closing of the Rikers Island prions as they protest outside the City Hall in New York, on September 22,2021. (Photo by KENA BETANCUR / AFP) Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images

New York’s quest to replace the troubled Rikers Island jail complex with smaller facilities across the five boroughs could lead to either hazardous overcrowding or the release of dangerous detainees, according to a Dec. 1 report from the conservative Manhattan Institute.

In a Nov. 30 interview with The Epoch Times, the report’s author, Manhattan Institute fellow Charles Fain Lehman, said New York has been reducing its jail population for years.