New Yorkers, distressed about continuing crime and disorder, are cheering Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s plans to crack down — but it looks like the city’s Democratic establishment is itching to undermine her.
Leading mayoral candidates and the City Council majority are still determined to downsize or eliminate Rikers Island, the city’s jail complex, altogether. They’ve drunk the decarceration Kool-Aid — convinced that jails do more harm than good.
But the facts, and pure common sense, prove them wrong: Jails and prisons keep the rest of us safe, because criminals behind bars can’t commit more crimes.
A City Council hearing last week on criminal justice was straight out of fantasy land.
Councilman Lincoln Restler (D-Brooklyn) said he was “deeply concerned about the number of people incarcerated.”
Several members urged Department of Correction executives to resume the release program started during COVID — never mind evidence that half of those released soon committed more crimes.
It’s time for the Police Benevolent Association, the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association and other public-safety advocates to oppose the city’s wacky plan to close Rikers Island and replace it with four borough-based mini-jails that, in total, could house only half the current prisoner count.
It’s especially urgent now that Gotham has a new police commissioner committed to stopping quality-of-life offenses.
No one can be sent to jail for beating the fare or scrawling graffiti — but many of these minor offenses are committed by recidivist felons wanted for serious crimes; once they’re arrested, judges can lock them up pre-trial, if the jail capacity exists.
For that, the commissioner needs jail cells.
Yet all the top Democratic candidates for mayor oppose providing the jail capacity to crack down on crime.
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, the latest entry into the Democratic primary, demands “alternatives to incarceration.”
State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani pledges to “take every step to decarcerate,” claiming that public safety comes from “dignified work, economic stability and well-resourced neighborhoods” — not policing and criminal penalties.
Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has claimed a “moderate” mantle, promising to hire 5,000 more cops. But as governor he oversaw the shuttering of 24 state prisons and juvenile detention facilities, and on Sunday he said he still stands by the “bail reform” law he signed in 2019.
That law compels judges to release suspects charged with misdemeanors and even felonies like assault, burglary and auto theft, instead of jailing them or requiring cash bail.
The practical impact of the 2019 law was to reduce headcount at Rikers — and flood the streets with recidivist criminals.
Three months after it went into effect, crime in New York City shot up 20%, including a 34% hike in robberies, according to NYPD CompStat data.
Decarceration got a further push when COVID struck, and prisoners were released to keep the illness from spreading. By the end of 2020, murders in NYC rose 41% over the prior year and auto thefts rose 67%.
“It’s crazy to think you can reduce crime by reducing the number of people in jail,” retired Assistant District Attorney Jim Quinn told me this week.
Crazy, but that’s the thinking behind closing Rikers.
Former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly tells me closing Rikers is a big mistake.
He’s most concerned that the planned borough-based jails, each with a maximum capacity of just 825 detainees, will be a gift to the gangs — whose members will find it easier to stick together there than in the vastness of Rikers Island (maximum capacity: 15,000).
Leftist Mamdani wants therapeutic alternatives to incarceration. But as the Manhattan Institute’s Hannah Myers has explained, mandated rehab programs like job-training and therapy do nothing to deter crime.
That doesn’t mean the status quo at Rikers Island is fine.
Its decrepit buildings, staggering number of assaults on corrections officers and inmates and inmate deaths from suicide and drug overdoses are proof the current administration cannot manage Rikers. It needs federal oversight to protect inmates and staff.
The path forward is to rebuild the facility, right where it is. Its island location allows for secure housing, outdoor recreation areas and even expansion if needed.
New Yorkers who value public safety need to speak out now against Democrats’ decarceration dreams.
Without enough jail space to keep criminals from victimizing the rest of us, Tisch’s enforcement actions don’t have a prayer.
Betsy McCaughey is a former lieutenant governor of New York and co-founder of the Committee to Save Our City.