Adams says one of NYC’s four new jails should be reserved for mentally ill

November 27, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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CITY HALL — MAYOR ERIC ADAMS said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday that one of the four new, smaller jails the city is building to replace Rikers should be dedicated solely to inmates with mental health issues. He made this comment in answer to questions about Ramon Rivera, 51, a severely mentally ill man who went on a stabbing spree across Manhattan last week, killing three. Rivera had been released from jail one month before the attack.

The mayor said 51% of inmates at Rikers have mental illnesses, and 18-20% have severe mental illnesses. “One of those jails should be a state-of-the-art mental health facility where people can get real care,” Adams said. “It is criminal that we are incarcerating people with severe mental health illness. And to continue this, knowing that you’re not going to hold them forever, and then they leave and you see things like this happen.”

One of the new jails is currently under construction on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.

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