City announces new Rikers reentry pilot program

The city is piloting a program that gives Rikers Island detainees municipal IDs in the hopes that it eases their transition back into city life.

The new pilot program will give individuals in Department of Correction custody access to IDNYC, a city identification card which can help them access benefits once they are released and reacclimate into the five boroughs.

The focus on the reentry program comes several years after Mayor Eric Adams and the DOC cut a $17 million contract with a number of nonprofit organizations, some of which provided reentry services on Rikers Island. Though the city restored some of the cut last year, gaps remain.

The New York City Department of Social Services and DOC announced the new pilot program on Friday, and said it is designed to ease the reintegration of people exiting DOC’s custody back into the community with the use of the free, municipal identification card that will allow them to access critical city resources and benefits.

“DOC’s mission is to help people return to their communities with tools that will allow them to thrive,” said Department of Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie. “This much needed effort will make people’s lives better when transitioning back into their communities. Initiatives like this one, coupled with services in the community, are the keys to helping formerly incarcerated people build lasting stability and success.”

According to the city, individuals leaving DOC custody and Rikers often do not have photo ID, which gets in the way of them reentering easily into the community and could prevent them from accessing assistance programs.

Detainees at the Eric M. Taylor Center on Rikers Island will be able to enroll while still in custody so they can get their new ID upon their release.

The city began enrolling applicants on Aug. 5.

To be eligible, people in custody must have been born in New York City and have at least three months left on their sentences.

DOC staff will enroll interested people in custody in IDNYC, and will take photos for the ID cards and coordinate with DSS to provide the cards once they are released.

The pilot will be assessed after six months, and the city said it will measure success based on how many people actually enroll.

“The launch of this innovative pilot builds on DSS-HRA’s established efforts to connect communities in need with a broad range of critical services to facilitate a move towards self-sufficiency and independence,” said DSS Commissioner Molly Wasow Park. “We are grateful to our partners at DOC and to our IDNYC staff for helping to expand the role of IDNYC and initiate a pilot that will continue to foster a sense of purpose and peace of mind for at-risk New Yorkers through the services that IDNYC affords.”

The move for the pilot comes just a few months since the city reinstated $14 million of the $17 million it cut for reentry services in March.

According to a mayoral spokesperson at the time, the $14 million in funding for programming was allocated to the DOC following an audit done by the DOC’s program and community partnerships division that found that detainees’ need for programming and services were not being met after the previous contract was cut.

In July 2023, the DOC under Adams then the DOC Commissioner Louis Molina cut the programming and reentry service contracts with several nonprofit organizations, including the Queens-based Fortune Society.

Following the cuts, the DOC struggled to provide reentry services, educational programs, life skills training and other programs to detainees on Rikers.

Though City Hall did not call the $14 million an attempt to restore cuts made to the DOC contracts in July 2023, all of the programming and services the new allotment will fund were previously offered by the service providers under the $17 million contract.

While the Adam administration reinstated some of the funding in March, the City Council continued a call for more funding for reentry programs.

“All the evidence shows recidivism is reduced by ensuring the evidence based interventions and programs in communities and in our justice system are reaching the people who need them the most,” City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said at the time.

“Yet, many of these programs have been the target of cuts, or have lacked the investment over the past year,” she added. “The reality is that nearly everyone who enters the justice system, or is incarcerated, eventually returns to their communities. The city has a responsibility to invest in programs that are shown to reduce recidivism rather than cutting them.”