Mayor Adams is making the case against a federal takeover of Rikers Island, signing an executive order today creating an interagency task force to formalize a “whole-of-government approach” to fixing the city’s jails facility.

The Department of Correction commissioner, Louis Molina, said that the “support from City hall finally gives this agency the help it needs to bring safety and security to our jail system.”

Mr. Adams directed attention toward the goal of reducing violence on the island, an issue that has been a chief concern. In April, a federal official reported that there is a “deep-seated culture of violence” at the jail.

“Since taking office, and working with the monitoring team, we have seen reductions in use of force and assaults on staff, increased searches for weapons and contraband, and fewer officers out on sick leave, but we must go further,” Mr. Adams said.

The mayor is referring to a 27 percent reduction in assaults on uniform staff and a 33 percent reduction on non-uniform staff, as well as a 27 percent reduction in use of force since January, according to preliminary city data.

Also, some 2,000 weapons have been confiscated and the jail facilities have ended the practice of housing detainees according to gang affiliation.

“We firmly believe that Commissioner Molina, with the support of the monitoring team and this administration, will be able to create a path forward towards resolving the longstanding issues in the city’s jails,” a Department of Correction spokesman told the Sun.

The problems at Rikers have been under renewed scrutiny since a May 19 deadline was set for the city to provide a comprehensive plan to reform the jail. Otherwise, the federal court in Manhattan may appoint a receiver, who would take control of the facility.

Mr. Adams’s new interagency task force will be tasked with “developing and implementing the plan for reform required by” the court, following a 2015 lawsuit concerning conditions on Rikers Island.

Some of those required reforms include alterations to staffing policy, accountability, and the expediency of bringing cases to trial, which the mayor’s new order takes steps to address.

The new task force will include representatives from eight city departments and offices and consultations with the district attorney’s offices and the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings, among others.

The “whole-of-government” approach is seen as a necessary measure in fixing the chronic problems at the jail, as many of the issues, including the length of time detainees are held before trial, are out of the correction department’s control.

“Dysfunctional government and agencies operating within silos is an unacceptable excuse for the dangerous conditions that have persisted on Rikers for years,” Deputy Mayor Phillip Banks said. 

He added that the task force “will enhance communications among agencies that have historically hindered past attempts at progress.”

A former prosecutor in the Queens district attorney’s office, Jim Quinn, reacting to the preliminary violence statistics from Rikers, told the Sun that “those numbers are promising.” 

He added, “I think that the Adams administration should be given time to straighten out the situation on Rikers Island themselves without a federal monitor.”

He noted that it remains to be seens whether the new interagency task force will be effective, saying “it really boils down to who is going to make the final decision.”

A retired correction officer and adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Marc Bullaro, was less optimistic about the announcement.

“All these agencies getting together is a good thing and I support them 100 percent but it’s not going to fix the problem,” Mr. Bullaro said. “The department has to cross the rubicon and regain control.”

Mr. Bullaro applauded the reduction in violence among other department goals, but stressed that the city will need to reinforce rule of law on the island before it can reform the jail.

“There is no enforcement of the laws — none,” Mr. Bullaro said. “The only thing that the department has left is that the officers are the ones holding the keys.”

Messrs. Quinn and Bullaro both said they thought a federal receivership would be inappropriate for Rikers Island, noting the reduction in violence since January as evidence of the city’s ability to fix the jail.

Mr. Bullaro went so far as to contend that the situation at Rikers has “gotten progressively worse since the federal monitor has been overseeing the jails.”

“The federal monitor and his team have made $10 million since they have been overseeing the department, so it pays for them for the jails to be out of control,” he added.