Advocates pressuring Mayor Adams to stay on schedule and close Rikers Island are turning his catchphrase against him.

“Get stuff done! Get Rikers closed!” they chanted at a rally Thursday outside City Hall. “Get stuff done! Get Rikers closed!”

And several of Adams’ fellow elected officials joined the demonstration to demand the mayor do everything in his power to shutter the jail complex in four years as required by law.

What You Need To Know

  • Council speaker, city comptroller, public advocate and others say mayor must do everything in his power to stay on schedule

  • Mayor Adams says he'll follow the law to close by 2027 but also has voiced the need for a Plan B

  • City jails population was at 5,900 as of March 1 and it must be lowered to 3,300 for the adopted closure plan to work

“The inconsistent statements from the administration over the past few days have unacceptably created questions where there should be no question: Rikers must close by 2027,” City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said.

She was referencing the public notice published Monday by the Adams administration indicating that one of the four borough-based jails needed to replace Rikers—this one in Brooklyn—would not be built until 2029.

Mayor Adams recommitted himself on Wednesday, saying, “We’re going to follow the law. The plan was flawed, but we’re going to follow the law.”

But compared to the council speaker, City Comptroller Brad Lander and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, the mayor has been far less confident that the Close Rikers plan adopted under Bill de Blasio is the best path forward.

“There should have been a Plan B,” he told CBS New York in January. “We can’t be so optimistic that we’re not realistic or idealistic that we’re not realistic.”

An administration spokesperson said Thursday that the previously set budget and timeline for the borough-based jails were unrealistic.

He added that now, market-tested, City Hall is facing the realities of supply chain and labor shortages and material and labor costs.

Williams said he believes they’re stalling, saying more broadly, “The folks who oppose and push back on us agree with how dangerous Rikers is.”

At the correctional complex, most detainees continue to be there awaiting trial.

“But I got to tell you,” Williams said, “even the folks who were sentenced were not sentenced to death.”

Though the city jails population fell to less than 4,000 before the pandemic, it began rising again and is now at 5,900.

The number of those behind bars needs to be drawn down to 3,300 for the adopted closure plan to work.

Lander noted the mental health challenges among the detainees.

“Why are we not exploring the supportive housing, the community-based health care clinics and the models of community-based mental health that actually help people get better?,” he asked at the rally.

One person died in custody at Rikers earlier this year.

There were 19 Rikers-related deaths last year.