NYC budget director doubts city will make 2027 deadline to close Rikers Island jail complex

The city budget director on Monday became the latest Adams administration official to cast doubt on whether the four new borough jails will be completed in time to close Rikers Island by 2027, as mandated by law.

“We know it’s not going to happen by 2027,” Jacques Jiha, the mayor’s budget director, told the City Council’s Finance Committee on Monday.

Jiha also said the new total cost for building the four borough-based jails has risen to $15 billion. That’s almost double the $8.7 billion the city estimated construction would cost in 2019, when the plan to close Rikers was signed into law by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Jiha suggested a spike in cost for construction material is in part to blame, saying, “The price of steel has doubled.”

In December, Mayor Adams and former state chief judge Jonathan Lippman penned an op-ed in the Daily News underscoring the pledge to close the notorious jail complex. But the mayor, a Democrat, has repeatedly suggested it won’t happen by the mandated deadline and has discussed developing a “Plan B.”

In August, he called the original approach “flawed from the beginning.” The original plan envisioned a jail population of 3,300. After dropping to less than 4,000 during the pandemic, when releases to preserve life were a priority, the population is now more than 6,100.

Across the same period, the jails suffered a relentless stream of in-custody deaths — 16 in 2021, 19 in 2022 and nine in 2023. The federal monitor tracking violence and use of force in the jails issued report after report criticizing the management of the system.

In November, the Legal Aid Society and the U.S. attorney in Manhattan submitted filings arguing for the system to be taken from city control and handed to an outside receiver appointed by a federal judge. The city has yet to file its expected opposition to the move.

The new Brooklyn Borough Jail already has a completion date two years after the deadline in 2029. Target opening dates for new jails in the Bronx, Manhattan and Queens remain unclear.

“The Adams administration is not above the law, and City Hall has a statutory obligation to close Rikers Island by August 2027,” said Tina Luongo, chief attorney of the Criminal Defense Practice at The Legal Aid Society.

On Oct. 19, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams reconstituted the Independent Rikers Commission to take another look at the closure plan with the intent of keeping the deadline but allowing for leeway based on other emerging factors.