But there’s also been a change in City Hall. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Richards have both vowed to recommit the city to the Rikers closure plan. And the commissioner has regularly described his new relationship with the remediation manager, Nicholas Deml, as a “partnership,” a general break from the years of contentious dealings between the DOC and its oversight authorities.
“It is an unprecedented time,” Brooks-Powers said.
“You have a time where we have a remediation manager, a new commissioner and a new chair who are seemingly in alignment in terms of the work that lies ahead,” she added. “And I think that’s a good place to start.”
But many of Rikers’ troubling conditions remain unchanged.
Two detainees have died in DOC custody this year after 15 people died in 2025 – more than 100 people have died on Rikers over the past decade.
Slashings and stabbings, use of force incidents and detainee fights remain at rates higher than their pre-pandemic averages, according to DOC data.
The physical conditions inside the jails have also continued to deteriorate. In a March report, a federal monitor tasked by a judge to track conditions in the jails found regular instances of mold, broken lights, blocked ventilation and vermin infestations.
Rikers also remains plagued by inefficiencies. Nearly 500 people being detained pretrial have been held in the jail for two years or longer.
Brooks-Powers said she was struck by the length of several detainees’ stays on Rikers during her Monday visit. She said she spoke with one man who had been waiting three years for his trial to begin.
“Rikers is not equipped to be in prison – it’s equipped to be in jail,” she said. “I think that what was evident is how critical of a need there is for us to have more judges to move people along in the process.”
But the lawmaker, who was joined on the tour by City Councilmembers Gale Brewer and Yusef Salaam, said that the tour, which was not an unannounced visit like some of her previous trips to the island have been, was mostly positive.
The city councilmembers visited a nursery in the Rose M. Singer Center, the jail that houses women and gender-expansive detainees, and the jail system’s school, the East River Academy. Brooks-Powers said conditions were generally good in both areas.
Brooks-Powers said the DOC was even open to some of her recommendations.
After learning that 12 pregnant detainees were being held in general population, Brooks-Powers said she asked if the agency would consider moving them to a safer housing area. By the end of the tour, Richards said the women would be moved to the nursery, according to Brooks-Powers.
“To have a quick response from the department is important,” she said. “To date, we’ve seen quick responses from the department on things that are of importance to the Council.”
“I have found that this new administration has come to the table, willing to answer questions and work with us,” she added. “I hope that they continue that.”