Department of Corrections Honcho blames courts for rising Rikers population

The Department of Correction Commissioner, Louis Molina, has attributed the increasing Inmate population at Rikers Island to the state court system’s procedural delays. His claims come amid mounting criticisms and as the city’s 2027 deadline to halve Rikers’ population looms large.

Rikers, New York City’s notorious jail complex, currently houses around 6,000 detainees daily. Molina, however, expects this figure to reach an average of 7,000 by next summer. These numbers present a daunting disparity, given that the four borough-based jails set to replace Rikers Island by 2027 will only be able to accommodate a combined total of 3,300 detainees.

At an oversight meeting of the Board of Correction, Molina stated, “The court process is what’s causing [the delay in outflow].” He further highlighted that “the outflow of persons that are in temporary detention is not happening at a pace that’s exceeding the inflow of bodies coming in.” Essentially, detainees are not exiting the system as rapidly as they are entering it.

To illustrate his point, Molina cited around 1,240 individuals who have been detained pretrial at Rikers Island for over a year. This equates to the longest sentence a convicted New Yorker can serve on the island.

When contacted by Jacob Kaye of the Queens Eagle, Lucian Chalfen, a spokesperson for the Office of Court Administration, disagreed with Molina’s stance. Chalfen argued that the court system was ready to commence trials whenever both prosecution and defense were prepared. Delays, he suggested, were due to either the prosecution or the defense asserting unreadiness to start the trial.

Marcia Bryson, a mother who witnessed her son held pretrial on Rikers Island for five years, underscores the toll that prolonged detention periods can take on all involved parties. She explained to the Queens Eagle that she spent around $100,000 on her son and his case since his arrest in 2018, causing…