Top Manhattan Prosecutor Calls For Receivership of Rikers Island

QUEENS — Manhattan's top federal prosecutor wants to transfer Rikers Island's system of control to a “receiver” appointed by a federal judge.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York said Monday that he wants the troubled jail complex to be stripped away from the control of the Eric Adams administration and instead be under oversight by a court-appointed outside authority.

Williams said Rikers Island“has been in crisis for years.”

The federal prosecutor's comments come after several reports have detailed the unruly and unsanitary conditions of the jail complex, which has marked three deaths at the facilities in the last month.

Advocates applauded Williams' statements calling for an appointment of an independent receiver.

"Too many lives have been lost and damaged due to the City's inability to manage the jails humanely," reads a statement by the Legal Aid Society. "We look forward to working together to seek the relief necessary to end this culture of brutality.”

U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain told attorneys for the city and Rikers detainees in June to discuss a potential structure for a federal receivership, and said she would consider it in August.