Gov. Cuomo on Sunday offered early support for City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s plan to reform — and ultimately shut down — Rikers Island, calling her proposal a “big solution” to a “big problem.”
Cuomo, who described the jail as “a truly troubled facility,” described Mark-Viverito’s plan as “interesting and intriguing,” adding that the jail, which dates back to the 1930s, suffers from major design flaws.
“You could design a facility that would be much easier to operate for the corrections officials, and it would be safer for the inmates,” he said. “Rikers is a big problem, and the council [speaker], when she talks about closing Rikers, that’s a big solution.”
Cuomo refused to weighing in on the rest of Mark-Viverito’s criminal-justice package, which includes granting amnesty to thousands of New Yorkers who face criminal arrest warrants for outstanding summonses.
“I’m not talking about the rest of the speaker’s plan, which I have not seen,” he said.
Mark-Viverito responded to Cuomo’s praise in kind Sunday, describing him as “a strong leader on key criminal justice reforms.”
“I look forward to working with him to make New York a more fair and just place,” she said.