Closing Rikers Island Means Changing the City’s Criminal Justice System, Expert Says

As the de Blasio administration prepares to make its first Rikers Island closure this summer, the city is leading the way in diminishing the overuse of jails in the criminal justice system while reducing crime at the same time, according to one expert, but there is still a long way to go in achieving the mayor’s 10-year goal of shuttering the violence-plagued complex for good.

“Closing Rikers is really important but there are other issues that need to be addressed first,” said JoAnne Page, president and CEO of the Fortune Society, a nonprofit that advocates for the formerly incarcerated.