NEW YORK, NY— The yearslong effort to close Rikers Island and replace it with four borough-based jails reached several new milestones, according to a report released Tuesday by the New York City Board of Correction.
Here are five things to know from the report:
The average daily jail population dropped 2.09 percent between January and May 2026, falling to 6,747 people.
City officials continue to rely on alternatives-to-incarceration programs to reduce the number of people held in jail before the borough-based facilities replace Rikers Island.
The Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice said its programs have served 8,000 people annually during the past three fiscal years, exceeding its goal of 7,300 participants.
The North Infirmary Command officially closed in June after the remaining incarcerated people were transferred from the facility.
Most of the nearly 100 people who had been housed in the North Infirmary Command, a medical jail for incarcerated people with acute health needs, were transferred to the new 104-bed Outposted Therapeutic Housing Unit at Bellevue Hospital.
The Bellevue unit now provides specialized medical care in a secure hospital setting while the Department of Correction maintains custody.
Construction continues across all four borough-based jails, but the Brooklyn facility has made the most progress.
The 15-story jail is rising at 275 Atlantic Ave., replacing the existing Brooklyn Detention Complex near the borough's criminal courts.
Workers installed the building's final structural steel in April.
The facility will include more than 30,000 square feet of community space with separate entrances on Atlantic Avenue.
Construction also continues in Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx.
The Queens facility will be the only borough jail designed to house women.
The City opened the Bellevue Hospital Outposted Therapeutic Housing Unit in April.
The secure facility includes 104 beds for incarcerated patients who need specialized medical care while remaining in Department of Correction custody.
Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie described the facility as "a different model of correctional care. One grounded in dignity and clinical support and access to specialized health care."
Each borough jail will include classrooms, vocational training areas and programming designed to prepare incarcerated people for life after release.
Plans call for GED classes, culinary arts instruction, horticulture programs, computer labs, driving simulators and music recording studios.
Officials also plan to house most people in single cells and provide expanded space for education and service providers.
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