Judge Kicks Off Rikers Island Fed Takeover Process

NEW YORK CITY — A federal takeover of Rikers Island took a firm step to a reality Thursday after a judge ordered court filings on whether city officials' mismanagement of the troubled jail rose to contempt.

The decision by Manhattan federal Judge Laura Taylor Swain doesn't yet take Rikers from city control.

Indeed, Swain made clear that Mayor Eric Adams' administration officials still have months to avert a federal takeover. But she said officials must show improvements in the jail beyond the inmate deaths, violence, open drug use and other problems outlined by watchdogs during the two-hour hearing.

"The defendants have not yet shown me that they are willing and able to make the rapid, radical changes in the administration of the jails that are necessary to protect the people who are in their custody," she said.

"Defendants should take the next few months as a challenge to prove that they can and will and are doing what the taxpayers have put them in place to do."

A growing number of advocates and officials, including a majority of the New York City Board of Correction, have called for a federal receiver to effectively take over Rikers, which has long been plagued by problems.

Adams, for his part, has vehemently opposed such an idea. His jails chief, Louis Molina, argued during the hearing that conditions have been improving in the jails, not getting worse.

"We are accelerating progress at an ever-increasing clip," he said.

But federal monitor Steve Martin and his team outlined disturbing conditions they witnessed before the hearing, as well as continued struggles engaging with jail officials, whom they previously have accused of burying information about inmate deaths.

Swain acknowledged some minor improvements, but overall said it's not enough.

"The current state of affairs is as tragic and disturbing as it is unacceptable," she said.

Swain set a schedule for motions on whether to hold city officials in contempt — a finding that likely would lead to the feds taking Rikers over.

A brief on a contempt motion is due by Nov. 17, assuming federal watchdogs and jail officials don't reach an agreement, Swain said.