New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani voiced support for closing Rikers Island during Wednesday night’s final mayoral debate, setting himself apart from opponents Curtis Sliwa and Andrew Cuomo, who both opposed the 2027 shutdown deadline.
Speaking about the city’s largest jail complex, Mamdani called Rikers a “stain on the history” of New York and maintained Mayor Adams had made the 2027 goal “nearly impossible” to reach, though he vowed to continue pursuing the closure. Cuomo countered that the plan would “release 7,000 criminals into New York City.”
The debate came months after a May 2025 federal court ruling that transferred oversight of Rikers Island from New York City officials to an independent “remediation manager.” Judge Laura Taylor Swain issued the order, citing years of violence and mismanagement at the facility. Under her ruling, the new manager—reporting directly to the court—has authority to implement reforms and collaborate with the city’s correction commissioner, marking the first time in nearly a decade that New York City lost direct control of the jail.
Federal oversight of Rikers began in 2015 as part of a class-action settlement intended to curb violence against inmates and correction officers. The court has since criticized the city for failing to make sufficient progress. Lawyers for detainees praised Judge Swain’s decision as a “historic” step toward accountability, noting that only nine U.S. jails have been placed under similar federal receiverships since 1974.
Mamdani’s position on the closure aligns with his broader platform focusing on systemic reform of the criminal justice and mental health systems. In a recent Fox News interview, he portrayed Rikers as “broken” and cited its large population of inmates with serious mental illnesses as evidence of deeper institutional failures. “What we would do is actually address the systemic problems,” he said, explaining that early intervention and community-based mental health services could prevent repeat offenses and reduce reliance on incarceration.
Pressed on whether his support for bail reform had changed after a fatal subway beating allegedly committed by a repeat offender, Mamdani replied that “40 percent of the incarcerated population [at Rikers] are suffering from serious mental illness” and claimed the city’s failure to provide treatment had turned the jail into a de facto mental health system. He added that his plan would expand programs like Fountain House, which offers peer-led rehabilitation, arguing such services are more effective and less costly than imprisonment.
Mamdani has also taken positions on international and federal legal issues. Last week, he explained he would “exhaust every legal option” to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visited New York City, invoking the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant. He stated he would act “only in abiding with all of the laws in front of me” and not create new laws to do so.
Days earlier, Mamdani declared on CNN that President Donald Trump was “weaponizing” the Department of Justice. He described it as “authoritarianism, plain and simple” while discussing the indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Mamdani’s approach to law enforcement has also drawn attention throughout his campaign. In August, records showed his campaign spent more than $33,000 on private security with a firm employing off-duty NYPD officers, despite his previous support for defunding the police. The expenditures followed years of public statements from Mamdani calling for police defunding and abolition, including a 2020 post stating, “Queer liberation means defund the police.”
In a July 2025 interview, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul defended Mamdani’s past comments, saying his calls to defund the police came “back in 2020 when many people were.” Hochul, who has since endorsed Mamdani for mayor, added that her administration has increased funding for law enforcement and reduced crime rates statewide.
Mamdani also faced criticism in July for thanking “first responders” after a mass shooting in Manhattan, with social media users pointing to his earlier anti-police statements. “Grateful for all of our first responders on the ground,” he wrote on X. Commenters accused him of hypocrisy, citing past posts in which he characterized the NYPD as “racist, anti-queer, and a major threat to public safety.”
Later that month, NYPD Chief of Department John Chell, who has since retired, called Mamdani “foolish” for proposing to eliminate the department’s Strategic Response Group, a specialized unit deployed during large-scale protests. Chell noted the unit had prevented major incidents during demonstrations across the city and deemed it essential for maintaining order.
Mamdani has also taken a firm stance on law enforcement cooperation with federal authorities, pledging to expand New York City’s sanctuary laws to block coordination between local police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), even in cases involving violent offenders. In a prior candidate questionnaire, he expressed, “Any effort to cooperate with these efforts is a moral stain on our city. We should strengthen our sanctuary city laws.”
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