New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration has taken the first step in shutting down the troubled jail complex on Rikers Island, releasing a request for proposal to assess the city’s correctional facilities and identify sites where new jails could be built. Under the proposal, a consultant would determine how much space is available at the city’s correctional facilities in Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan, and whether they could be expanded. The consultant will also propose locations for new, smaller jails to house inmates that would otherwise be held at Rikers.Mr. de Blasio has laid out a 10-year plan to close the violence-ridden Rikers Island complex and replace it with a handful of smaller jails that are safer, less isolated and more modern.
