AS FY2027 BUDGET IS FINALIZED, THE CAMPAIGN TO CLOSE RIKERS PRAISES INVESTMENTS IN PROVEN SOLUTIONS FOR HEALTH & SAFETY, CALLS FOR FURTHER ACTION

After down-to-wire negotiations, the New York City Council and the Mayor announced a handshake budget agreement yesterday, followed by a Council vote. The adopted budget includes baseline funding increases for community-based mental health treatment, and eliminates previously-announced funding for 580 new police officers.  In response, the Campaign to Close Rikers released the following statement:

“For years, survivors of Rikers, impacted families, and our broad-based coalition have fought to  secure crucial funding for public health and community safety. Finally, we’ve seen willingness from both City Hall and the City Council to make long-term investments in some of these proven solutions, like Intensive Mobile Treatment teams, Assertive Community Treatment teams, and Crisis Respite Centers.

The investments are long overdue, and while they cannot bring back the dozens of community members who have died at Rikers Island in the past few years as the jail population rose, they can help to reverse the shameful surge in incarceration rates for people with mental illness, and they can address behavioral health needs that police and jails simply cannot. 

These investments are also just a start. Even after some vacancy reductions, the budget still includes hundreds of vacancies for correction officers that cannot and should not be filled, while highly effective programs like alternatives to incarceration and reentry services have not been expanded, let alone brought to scale. Despite the delays caused by the previous administration, this administration can still fulfill a crucial element of the Rikers closure plan by August 2027 - reducing the jail population. Doing that sustainably will require focused action and further investment,  which we expect to see in the November budget modification.

By adding funding for community-based health mental health care while eliminating funding for more police officers and eliminating some DOC vacancies, this budget shows some recognition that we cannot arrest or jail our way to safety or well-being. We’ll continue organizing for a city  that invests in care over criminalization, where the billions wasted on Rikers are reinvested in the communities that mass incarceration has stolen so much from.”

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