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New York City Council Votes to Close Rikers Island Jail Complex

  • Plan includes building four borough-based detention centers
  • City would sell general-obligation bonds for construction
Rikers Island jail complex.

Rikers Island jail complex.

Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images

The New York City Council voted Thursday to close the infamous Rikers Island jail complex as part of a sweeping criminal justice plan that includes building new borough-based detention centers in the next decade.

The plan calls for Rikers and other city jails to shutter by 2026. They’d be replaced by four modern jails -- one in each borough except Staten Island. They would hold an estimated 3,300 inmates, according to city estimates.