Nearly 400 Rikers Inmates Will Be Released, Transferred: Hochul

NEW YORK CITY — Hundreds of Rikers Island inmates will leave the troubled city-run jail in coming days, Gov. Kathy Hochul said.

Hochul said 191 inmates will be released Friday under a sweeping new parole bill passed by state lawmakers — the Less Is More Act — she signed.

An additional 40 inmates a day will be transferred from Rikers to state-run facilities under a program in collaboration with New York City officials, she said.

“Over 200 people we expect again will be over the next few days,” she said.

The release or transfer of nearly 400 inmates aims to alleviate a full-blown crisis at the infamous city-run jail.

Already-awful living conditions have deteriorated at Rikers, a spate of inmates have died or committed suicide and corrections officers, if they show up at all, face punishingly long shifts.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has outlined spate of short-term fixes to address the situation welcomed Hochul’s and lawmakers’ actions

“That is tremendously helpful — we’ve got to reduce the population the right way so we can address these issues,” he told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer.

Hochul, prominent state lawmakers and advocates announced the Rikers changes in the context of the wider Less Is More Act, which reforms the state’s parole system.

New York incarcerates more people for parole violations than any other state, Hochul said. She said that means inmates who aren’t a danger to society can be shipped back off to prison for technical violations, such as missing an appointment or drinking alcohol.

“It doesn’t make us any safer,” she said. “These people weren’t a danger in the first place. They were released properly and because of a technicality, they are returned.”