The Mamdani administration permanently closed North Infirmary Command and transferred it from the Department of Correction to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services on 29 June. Large portions of the George Motchan Detention Center and Anna M. Kross Center also moved to DCAS control.
This is the first Rikers property transfer from DOC to DCAS since 2021. It advances the Renewable Rikers law, prevents the transferred facilities from returning to jail use and opens a route to future public purposes including sustainable infrastructure.
The transfer is a meaningful result, not a completed closure. Most people in city custody remain on Rikers, borough based jails are delayed and the administration says the August 2027 legal deadline cannot be met. Population reduction, safer conditions and credible replacement capacity remain essential.
What the transfer changes
Local Law 16 requires unused Rikers land and facilities to leave correction control. Moving these sites to DCAS narrows the island's jail footprint and makes permanent closure harder to reverse.
DCAS must now identify lawful future uses. Renewable energy, wastewater, waste management and other public infrastructure have been discussed, but every use still needs plans, environmental review, funding and a timetable.
The remediation blueprint
Federal remediation manager Nicholas Deml has also set out an operational overhaul for city jails. That work addresses violence, staffing, management, medical care and other conditions that cannot wait for physical closure.
Federal oversight can compel reform, but City Hall still controls the budget, appointments, contracts, transport, programming and much of the capital path. The land transfer and the remediation plan must move together.
What Mamdani delivered
Mamdani reversed the prior administration's refusal to carry out the land transfer and appointed Stanley Richards as Correction Commissioner and Dana Kaplan as Close Rikers Czar. The North Infirmary Command closure became possible after people needing acute medical and mental health care moved to a new Bellevue unit.
Those decisions deserve credit because they change control of facilities and reduce active jail space. The administration must now keep the transfer from becoming an isolated milestone while the wider closure timetable slips.
The work still open
Closing Rikers requires fewer people held pretrial, faster court processing, safe diversion, supportive housing, mental health care and enough borough based capacity. It also requires safe working conditions for correction staff during the transition.
A replacement date must be credible. City Hall should publish construction milestones, costs, population assumptions and the conditions under which each remaining facility can close.
Public record
- North Infirmary Command was permanently closed and transferred to DCAS on 29 June 2026.
- Large portions of George Motchan Detention Center and Anna M. Kross Center also moved to DCAS.
- The transfer was the first of its kind on Rikers since 2021.
- The city acknowledges that the statutory August 2027 closure deadline will not be met.
- Land transfer, jail remediation, population reduction and borough based construction are separate parts of the same closure programme.
What to check next
Publish the acreage, facility boundaries, future use process and timetable for every transferred site.
Report population, violence, use of force, staffing, medical access and facility closures together.
Publish a current borough based jail schedule, cost and population assumption.
Tie recurring hearings to transfer, remediation and construction milestones.