For weeks, momentum has been growing for federal receivership of Rikers Island, a move that would strip the city of control and hand it over to a third party.

On Thursday, a federal judge fueled that momentum, setting in motion a process that will allow the parties in a federal lawsuit to make their case for receivership over the next several months.

“The people incarcerated at Rikers are at a grave risk of immediate harm,” Judge Laura Taylor Swain said at a hearing in lower Manhattan. “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.”

What You Need To Know

  • Judge Laura Taylor Swain will allow the parties in a federal lawsuit to make their case for receivership over the next several months

  • The parties will file a motion for contempt and application for receivership by Nov. 17, with the schedule of legal motions continuing into February

  • Correction commissioner Louis Molina argued for maintaining city control, telling the judge that violence at Rikers and staff absenteeism are down

  • A court-appointed monitor overseeing Rikers described appalling conditions, including a visit Wednesday where the team observed active drug use

Under the schedule of legal briefs, all sides will continue to confer and submit a joint statement by Sept. 11; if they’ve reached no resolution, the judge will allow a motion for contempt and application for receivership by Nov. 17. The city will then file its opposition by Jan. 16, and plaintiffs will reply by Feb. 15, meaning a final decision on receivership would come no sooner than six months from now.

Correction Commissioner Louis Molina told the court the city has driven down violence and reversed a pattern of staff absenteeism.

“There hasn’t been one receiver appointed to any large jail or prison system that has had that much progress than we have had,” since Mayor Adams took office in Jan. 2022, Molina told reporters after the hearing. “I still am very committed to this work, as is the Mayor, who has given us tremendous support to see this through.”

But a court-appointed monitor overseeing Rikers described appalling conditions, including a visit Wednesday where the team observed active drug use.

On Tuesday, the same day a group of conservative-leaning City Council members toured one Rikers facility and praised conditions there, there were four stabbings and slashings, seven fires, two serious injuries and nine assaults on staff at Rikers, according to deputy monitor Anna Friedberg.

Advocates for closing Rikers rallied before Thursday’s court hearing, calling attention to deaths at the jail facility, including seven so far this year.

“It is a hellhole,” said Brooklyn City Councilman Lincoln Restler. “It is a stain on our city, a stain on our conscience. And the only thing left to do is to bring in a federal receiver.”

Judge Swain did leave open the possibility the city could still turn things around, and said she will be watching.

“We will continue through our process and make our case that this city is the one in perfect position to advance these reforms that the court has been waiting for far too long,” Molina said.