City Council-approved ‘review teams’ to cut jail population

Metro

By Rich Calder

May 13, 2023 | 8:45am

Inmates on notorious Rikers Island could soon be scoring “Get out of Jail Free” cards courtesy of the New York City Council.

Progressive Democratic Council members approved a controversial bill aimed at slashing the lock-up’s population by creating new borough-based, taxpayer-funded “jail population review” teams to decide who among the complex’s roughly 6,000 prisoners meet yet-to-be-determined criteria “for early case resolution or pretrial release.”

Democratic Councilman Robert Holden called it among the most “dangerous” pieces of legislation he’s ever seen.

The goal of the bill, sponsored by left-wing Councilwoman Carlina Rivera (D-Manhattan), is lowering the jail population to meet a city mandate to close Rikers by August 2027. Four smaller lockups slated to replace Rikers would only hold 3,544 beds combined.

Supporters also claim there’s too many detainees awaiting trial on Rikers who are unfairly stuck at a facility plagued for decades by poor living conditions and violence.

“The legislation … will spur action towards reducing our jail population for a safer and more humane New York City,” said Rivera.

But Rivera’s reps refused to answers questions about how the review teams would be selected and what criteria would be followed for early release.

Critics blasted the new $3 million-a-year program – which is slated to begin in October through the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice – for lacking clarity on how early-release applications will be decided and for potentially putting scores of dangerous criminals back on the street.

The bill specifically excludes prosecutors and judges from helping decide whether detainees can be sprung. It includes language prohibiting review teams from sharing “confidential information” with district attorneys “or the court” without consent from the inmate’s lawyer.

“This [bill] clearly doesn’t have an objective, all-encompassing approach to whether or not a person should be released from Rikers — and that is just wrong,” said Councilman David Carr (R-Staten Island).

“If you’re going to have a holistic assessment of whether someone should be detained, … it must include prosecutors handling cases [and] the judges who have or had a role in the judicial proceedings in which the defendant or detainee is part of.”

Instead, the review teams are expected to be predominantly comprised of public defenders and reps from MOCJ and other city agencies, according to sources.

Holden, a moderate Queens Democrat, said the “city still hasn’t recovered” from crime surges it saw after former Mayor Bill de Blasio freed more than 1,500 Rikers detainees in spring 2020 during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re already letting out way too many repeat offenders,” he said.

Despite staunch opposition, the bill was approved with a veto-proof majority support of 39 of 51 members on Thursday. Seven – including Holden and Carr — opposed it; three abstained, and two were absent.

“The bill will smartly, safely reduce the population on Rikers Island and is one of the most important bills I think we’ll pass this year on the City Council,” crowed Councilman Lincoln Restler (D-Brooklyn) on Thursday.

Supporters also said they hope the legislation will light a fire under Mayor Adams, who many progressive legislators have accused of dragging his feet on meeting the deadline to close Rikers.

Jonah Allon, a mayoral spokesman, said Adams supports the legislation, but declined to address the public safety concerns raised by critics.