New York City jails have a long history of abuse and negligence toward the incarcerated population. Rikers was heavily criticized in the 1970s and ’80s for overpopulation, dangerous conditions and violence against incarcerated adolescents. Under then-New York City Mayor Ed Koch, the public began calling for the island to be closed. Those calls have only amplified in recent years as violence ...

A federal judge on Tuesday seized control of New York City's notorious jail complex on Rikers Island, which will now be run by an official who reports directly to the court. In a 77-page ruling, Judge Laura Taylor Swain wrote that she found the conduct of ...

New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo says he wants to save Rikers Island, the notorious jail complex that has become a symbol of dysfunction in the city's criminal justice system. The city is legally required to shutter its jails on Rikers and ...

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- The New York City Planning Commission on Tuesday approved Mayor Bill de Blasio's proposal to build four borough-based jails in an effort to close Rikers Island. The plan now goes to a City Council subcommittee, which holds a hearing ...

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio promised last March to begin closing the entire jail complex over roughly a decade.

This week, a federal judge appointed a remediation manager for Rikers Island. So will it make a difference in conditions there? "They didn't create this mess. I don't think they made it much better. My thing has been it is not working for anyone there.

NEW YORK -- The city corrections commissioner on Tuesday detailed proposed reforms to the problem-plagued Rikers Island jail complex that include changes to the housing of teenage and young adult inmates, reforms to the use of solitary confinement and a ...

Kyron Randall, 33, accused of beating his roommate to death in a Bronx drug treatment center, died after being taken to Elmhurst Hospital.