‘The Whole Thing Upsets Me’: Mayor Finally Visits Rikers

House Democrats are calling for President Biden to get involved. The New York State attorney general signaled that she might step in. And a federal prosecutor said last week that outside assistance at Rikers Island was “long overdue.”

Top officials are increasingly signaling skepticism about New York City’s ability to solve the crisis at the troubled jail complex, where 11 people who were being held in custody this year have died, and rampant staff absenteeism has led to dangerous conditions for detainees and workers alike.

On Monday, three Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform called on the city’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, to brief Congress on what they called “unacceptable conditions” on Rikers Island. Hours later, Mr. de Blasio, who had planned to tour the jail complex this week following intense pressure from other elected officials and advocates, announced that his visit would take place on Monday afternoon.

The lawmakers — Representatives Carolyn B. Maloney and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and Jamie Raskin of Maryland — gave the mayor, as well as the commissioner of the city’s Department of Correction, Vincent Schiraldi, until Monday of next week to file a report.

In a statement, Ms. Maloney said that reports of incarcerated people being denied food, water and basic medical care were an “absolute disgrace.”

“The Oversight Committee is calling for an urgent briefing on the actions the City of New York is taking to address these deplorable conditions,” she said.

The letter also called on the mayor to release low-level offenders into supervised programs in order to address overcrowding at the jail complex, which is under the control of New York City officials and where about 5,000 people were being held as of Monday morning. The complex’s maximum capacity is 7,308, according to the Department of Correction.

The representatives said they were concerned that an emergency plan released by the mayor this month “fails to meet the moment given the perilous situation on Rikers Island.”

A spokesman for Mr. de Blasio did not respond to a request for comment on the letter. Ms. Maloney, who represents parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, is the chairwoman of the oversight committee, while Mr. Raskin leads a subcommittee on civil rights and civil liberties. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who represents a district encompassing parts of Queens and the Bronx and who has called for the immediate shutdown of Rikers Island, serves on both the committee and subcommittee.

Their request — which could lead to further congressional action, including an investigation — follows a letter released last week in which more than a dozen New York Democrats called on Mr. Biden to intervene at Rikers, and asked the Department of Justice to begin an investigation into the conditions there. The White House on Monday did not respond to a request for comment on the letter.

In recent weeks, a steady stream of state and local officials have toured Rikers and commented afterward on the dire conditions there. After a visit last week, New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, said in a statement that she was “examining all of my office’s legal options to immediately address this dire situation.”

City officials have insisted that they have the capacity to solve the issues plaguing Rikers, where the city oversees eight different facilities. At a City Council hearing this month, Mr. Schiraldi and Dean Fuleihan, the city’s first deputy mayor, said that they would not need outside help.

“I strongly believe that the City of New York can fix this,” Mr. Schiraldi said.

Asked if the city and the Department of Correction could do so safely, Mr. Fuleihan said yes, adding that the city was moving quickly to address issues with staffing and safety and that it did not need federal assistance.

“We can manage this,” he said. “Not easy, but we actually can do it.”

But the letters from members of Congress, as well as a court hearing last week during which lawyers for a civil rights group asked a federal judge to intervene, suggested that those concerned about conditions at the jail complex were increasingly looking toward other parties to help.

The crisis has heightened in the final months of Mr. de Blasio’s tenure and as the city gears up for the general election to replace him, which will take place on Nov. 2.

Mr. de Blasio’s likely successor, the Democratic candidate Eric Adams, visited the island earlier this month. Afterward, Mr. Adams, who supports closing Rikers but has objected to the locations chosen for new jail sites, released a plan that included efforts to build out facilities for incarcerated people with mental health or substance abuse issues, and to direct more funding to the prosecutor’s office located on the island.

Mr. Adams’s Republican opponent, Curtis Sliwa, opposes the closure of Rikers and wants new jails to be built there.

Mr. de Blasio, who has not visited Rikers Island since June 2017, the year he backed a now-delayed plan to close the jail complex, said at a news conference Monday morning that measures the city had recently put in place — including opening some new intake facilities and reducing triple shifts — were making “a real impact” at Rikers.

Gov. Kathy Hochul this month signed a parole reform law, known as the Less is More Act, and ordered the release of close to 200 people detained on the island.

The overall jail population citywide is 5,688, and Mr. de Blasio said Monday that he would like to see that number drop to below 5,000.

He also said that his office would revisit discussions about the early release of some offenders after local prosecutors and the Police Department finished evaluating each case, but that the list of people who could be released was “not going to be a game-changing number.”

Last week, the city withdrew a lawsuit it had filed against a union representing correction officers after the union agreed to make an official statement discouraging absenteeism.

“Officers who are fit for duty should show up for work as required by the law,” the statement said.

The union, the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, has continued to express fury toward the mayor and released a fiery statement on Friday after the city said that it planned to work with state officials to amend a law governing whether private contractors can work at the city’s jails.