Manhattan City Councilmember Gale Brewer is drafting legislation to force public tracking of complaints from Rikers Island made through the city’s 311 system, aiming to bring transparency and accountability to a largely opaque process.
The proposal follows reporting by THE CITY that found tens of thousands of jail-related calls to 311 each year are not publicly logged or clearly resolved. That has left detainees and their families with little insight into whether their complaints are addressed.
“The calls go into a black hole,” Brewer, who chairs the Council’s Committee on Governmental Operations, told THE CITY.
A woman visiting her fiancé on Rikers Island shows a 311 call she made to complain about conditions he was facing, March 25, 2026. Credit: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
Last year, 40,483 complaints were logged to the city’s 311 hotline about the troubled jail system, according to city records.
But many of the calls were ignored and it’s impossible to know when they were officially if or when the complaints — often about missed medical visits, extreme heat or cold, or mold — were addressed , according to advocates, detainees, and their loved ones.
A 311 call and a Rikers hanging death
In one 2025 incident, Rikers detainee Benjamin Kelly’s mother dialed 311 to report her son was hallucinating and clearly on the wrong medication. Two weeks later, a city correction officer found Kelly, 36, hanging from a bedsheet in his cell.
The city’s 311 system, launched under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, was designed as a centralized, high-tech way for New Yorkers to report problems, from potholes to noise complaints, and track how agencies respond.
But complaints about conditions inside the jails don’t follow that model.
Unlike standard 311 “service requests,” which are logged publicly, routed to agencies and marked resolved, jail-related complaints often disappear from public view.
Instead, they are categorized as “customer comments” and sent to the Department of Correction through an internal online form directed to the commissioner’s office.
Detainees and their families say that system leaves them in the dark, with calls for help frequently going unanswered.
The proposed legislation would likely take several months to draft, according to Brewer, and then would face hearings before a full council vote. That process typically takes at least a year.
Chaplain Dr. Victoria A. Phillips joins a rally outside Rikers Island, Aug. 28, 2025. Credit: Alex Krales/THE CITY
Brewer expects broad support in the Council and from the mayor.
“It doesn’t seem controversial,” she said.
The Rikers 311 bill will be based on a similar cannabis reporting measure she introduced in 2024, Brewer said. That law established “a specific 311 complaint category for unlicensed cannabis retailers.” It enabled New Yorkers to report illegal shops via phone, app, or website, with grievances sent to the New York City Sheriff’s Office.
“It will have the same wording,” Brewer told THE CITY. “We could complain to the department but we’ve also got to do something about it.”
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