New York City lawmakers are set to vote Wednesday on several bills aimed at improving conditions for people in custody and laying more groundwork for the eventual closure of the Rikers Island jails.

The legislation comes amid growing concerns over safety at the troubled jail complex and delays in the city’s plan to replace it with smaller borough-based facilities. Earlier this year the Independent Rikers Commission determined the city would not meet its legally mandated goal of closing the complex by September 2027.

City Councilmember Sandy Nurse of Brooklyn said she also doesn’t expect the city to meet the deadline, but — as the commission did in its report — argued progress is still possible in the meantime.

“We are going to be delayed, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be doing work to get people safely off the island, work to address the violence happening at Rikers and getting people who are severely mentally ill out of Rikers,” she said. “People who aren’t fit to stand trial should not be there. People who need help with substance abuse, those folks should not be there.”

Nurse is sponsoring a bill to establish an office within the mayor's office that would coordinate Rikers' closure and the transition to the four borough-based jails. She said the proposal comes from the recommendations of the Independent Rikers Commission, which worked on its report for more than a year.

The Council is also slated to vote on two other jail-related bills Wednesday:

  • Intro 1238-A, sponsored by Councilmember Jennifer Gutiérrez, would require the city Department of Correction to ensure people in custody with pending criminal cases can review evidence through department-issued tablets or law library access.
  • Intro 1240-A, sponsored by Councilmember Rita Joseph, would require the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice to conduct "holistic needs assessments" for people being considered for court-based alternatives to incarceration. The assessments would consider mental and physical health, intellectual disabilities and other factors.

Nurse said she anticipates the bills will pass, though they were each introduced with around a dozen cosponsors, short of the Council majority needed for passage.

“The majority of this Council has been really supportive of closing Rikers and understands the public safety and humanitarian crisis that Rikers represents,” she said. “I feel good about the legislation.”

Last week, the city confirmed the 12th death of a person at or shortly after being released from Rikers this year. The tally is more than double last year’s total, and more than 7,000 people are being held on the island, according to city data.

A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams' office said the mayor plans to review the legislation, per Liz Garcia, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office.

This story has been updated with comment from Mayor Eric Adams' office.