Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams on Friday said Mayor Bill de Blasio needs to tour the troubled Rikers Island with members of his administration, and a short while later the mayor committed to visiting the beleaguered jail complex “next week.”
During an unrelated press conference Friday, Adams, the Democratic mayoral nominee, added himself to a growing list of politicians and advocates who have in recent weeks demanded that the mayor see the conditions at the dangerous lockup for himself.
“Yes,” he said in Brooklyn, when asked by The Post about whether the mayor should visit the deadly, out-of-control Big Apple jail, “and he should walk through with his [schools] chancellor to see what a failing education system produced, he should walk through with [Human Resources Administration], he should walk in with [the Department of Housing Preservation and Development].”
Shortly after, de Blasio announced he will observe the recently short-staffed and disorderly lockup “next week,” though he wouldn’t specify which day.
“Next week, I’ll go visit. I think it’s time, because we’ve been able to address a number of issues, and I want to see if the solutions are working or whatever other things we have to do,” the mayor said on WNYC’s “The Brian Lehrer Show” during his regularly scheduled appearance on the morning program.
When pressed for a specific day, de Blasio responded, “Next week, we’ll figure out a date.”
Asked why he waited weeks — and for more than 10 deaths on his watch this year — to see the crisis with his own eyes, the mayor insisted he was focused on enacting specific measures, not on what he characterized as a symbolic tour.
“There are different approaches to leadership. Some people — honestly, bluntly — are heavy on the symbolism,” he said. “That’s great, I get it. My approach, for better or worse, is I want to solve the problem, and that took a lot of time and energy but we are getting the changes we need.”
“Now that I feel that work is moving, it’s time to go out,” he went on. “Now, I’ll go, see if those solutions are working.”
Meanwhile, Adams said he views the failures at the notorious city jail as systemic ones that are produced by several city agencies over decades — not just the Department of Correction or the current mayor.
“He should bring all of his top commissioners and deputy mayors to talk through and say, ‘Look what failed policies have produced in our city for decades,’ because those men and women at Rikers Island is an indictment on our city, not on this administration only but on every administration,” the former NYPD captain said earlier Friday.
Speaking broadly of problems at the complex, Adams cast partial blame on racism, while stressing de Blasio isn’t solely responsible for the neglect and failures in the city jail system.
“I can’t help believe there’s a level of racism at the core of what’s happening at Rikers Island,” he said.
“This is a population we’ve ignored, I think we’ve said over and over again, not under this administration only, but all the administrations. Inmates are black and brown, the officers are black and brown, we care less of what happens there, but you know what, I care,” he added. “This is a population we’ve ignored … not under this administration only, but all the administrations.”
Citing “cell blocks with no guards at all” on Rikers Island, Adams stated that he agrees with a federal monitor’s position that “the dangerous conditions in the jails” necesitate outside help.
Additionally, Adams declared himself a “huge believer” in shuttering the city jail — which is scheduled to close its doors by 2027 and be replaced by four smaller ones in each borough except Staten Island.
“I am a huge believer in closing Rikers Island, and this is not a new issue for me,” he said.
“Yes, let’s close Rikers Island, but let’s not displace the problem, because if you take the condition and put it in smaller jails, all you did was make a smaller crisis and I don’t want to do that,” he explained.
He added, “People talk about closing the building; I say let’s close the pipeline that feeds the building,” citing a report that found 30 percent of prisoners in the United States are dyslexic.
After viewing the conditions at the jail on Thursday, a pair of more conservative lawmakers voiced a different perspective on the cause of the “nightmarish environment.”
“Despite having to wait a very long time and some back and forth with the Mayor’s Office, we persevered long enough to enter the jail and see the nightmarish environment for ourselves,” Republican Joe Borrelli (R- Staten Island) and Robert Holden (D- Queens) said Friday in a joint statement. “Yesterday’s unannounced visit of several jail facilities on the island revealed conditions resembling a third world country that no one should have to endure. Mayor de Blasio and his administration have shown disdain for inmates, correction officers, and staff.”
“What we saw yesterday was criminal and should be investigated by federal authorities,” they added. “Someone must be held criminally responsible for the humanitarian crisis at Rikers Island.”
Adams’ remarks come after de Blasio touted his close, long-standing relationship with the nominee — the heavy favorite to win November’s general election and succeed the current mayor in City Hall.
“We see eye to eye on a wide range of issues, and I really think he’s the right person for this moment in history to take us to the next level,” said de Blasio.
He added, “I think there’s a lot of common ground,” especially on public safety issues.
They also follow de Blasio on Wednesday vowing to “definitely” visit Rikers Island “when it’s time for a visit.” The mayor has said he’s waiting for his five-point “emergency plan” for the lockup to be enacted before during a visit seeing if the newly implemented policies are working .
Among the changes the mayor recently rolled out are punishing absentee correction officers and bringing NYPD officers into state courts — freeing up correction officers to act as guards in city jails including those on Rikers, where about 6,000 people are currently detained.
On Tuesday, de Blasio announced the transfer of 100 cops from crime-fighting responsibilities to courts to replace correction officers. During a recent City Council hearing, a top Department of Correction staffer revealed that one in five jail staff called out sick on a Tuesday that week.
In response to the chronic absenteeism, the de Blasio administration sued a correction officer union, alleging the Correction Officer Benevolent Association had been allowing — and even encouraging — guards at Rikers Island to not show up for work. City Hall on Wednesday dropped the suit, after COBA declared its opposition to jail guards who fake sick.
“Officers who are fit for duty should show up for work as required by the law,” Correction Officers Benevolent Association lawyer John Burns said during a Manhattan Supreme Court video hearing, following negotiations between COBA and the city.
“COBA has never instructed anyone not to show up for work, or walk off the post, or bang in sick or claim a personal emergency when that correction officer is, in fact, not sick or experiencing a personal emergency.”