A Path Forward: A Blueprint to Close Rikers
At the end of March 2025, the Independent Rikers Commission (a.k.a., Lippman Commission) released its latest report, A Path Forward: The Blueprint to Close Rikers Island. It featured novel strategies to right-size the jail population, invest in community-based mental health services, address Rikers’ culture of violence, and better equip correctional staff to effectively manage the jails. Along with the Commission’s staff leadership and a wide range of expert partners, the Data Collaborative for Justice was pleased to offer advice and data support.
The Blueprint lays out worthy strategies that include:
? Safely reducing the jail population by accelerating case processing and expanding mental health and housing investments.
? Reducing violence and improving jail culture by instituting proven “high reliability” practices for managing the jails, offering supports for staff wellness, and turning a single one of the current jails on Rikers into a lab for reform.
? Transforming Rikers into a renewable energy hub by implementing the Renewable Rikers Plan that could save NYC $10 billion in infrastructure costs, achieve critical environmental goals, create green jobs, and improve environmental equity in overburdened communities.