CASES Contributes to The Blueprint to Close Rikers

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A Path Forward: Closing Rikers and Investing in Community-Based Justice

This week, the Independent Rikers Commission released its latest report, The Blueprint to Close Rikers, outlining a comprehensive plan to safely and permanently close the Rikers Island jail complex. The report underscores the urgent need to replace Rikers with a borough-based system of smaller, safer facilities, expand secure mental health treatment beds outside the jail system, and invest in community-based alternatives to incarceration.

CASES is proud that our CEO, Jonathan McLean, is a member of the Independent Rikers Commission and is contributing to this critical effort to transform the legal system in New York City. The Commission’s findings align closely with CASES’ mission to offer alternatives to incarceration and provide community-based mental health and prevention services that reduce reliance on jails and improve community safety.

Key Takeaways from the Blueprint to Close Rikers

  • Rikers Must Close ASAP: The report reaffirms that Rikers is unsafe, inhumane, and excessively expensive, costing over $400,000 per incarcerated person per year.
  • Expanding Mental Health Treatment Outside of Jails: Over half of those held at Rikers have a mental illness, and 21% have a serious mental illness. The Commission recommends adding 500 secure psychiatric treatment beds outside the jail system to ensure that people receive care in appropriate settings rather than in correctional facilities.
  • Investments in Alternatives to Incarceration: The report highlights the need to expand programs like intensive case management, supervised release, treatment courts, and alternatives to incarceration—all areas where CASES plays a leadership role in the city.
  • Speeding Up Case Processing to Reduce Jail Population: Many people at Rikers are held for months or years pretrial. The Commission calls for expedited case processing to safely reduce the jail population by as many as 2,000 people.
  • Investing in Communities and Reentry Services: The transition away from Rikers must include robust investments in housing, mental health care, and employment programs to support people returning to their communities.

CASES’ Role in Supporting a Rikers-Free Future

CASES staff shared insights, client success stories and relevant data with the commission, and their recommendations reinforce the critical role that organizations like ours play in creating a safer and more just New York City. Through our alternatives to incarceration, behavioral health treatment, and prevention services, we are working every day to prevent unnecessary incarceration and support people in the community.

Our innovative mobile treatment teams—including Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT)—offer mental health services to people at risk of incarceration, including many with serious mental illnesses. CASES’ court-based Rapid Response Treatment (RRT) teams provide on-the-ground support in arraignments to help connect people to longer term services and meet their immediate needs for food and clothing. In the first year of the program, 97% of people engaging with RRT have avoided re-arrest while in the program.

Jonathan McLean’s leadership on the Independent Rikers Commission ensures that our staff and clients’ voices and experiences are represented in the movement to close Rikers and reimagine justice in our city.

Join Us in the Movement to Close Rikers

The time to act is now. The Commission’s report makes it clear that closing Rikers is not just a moral and legal necessity—it is also fiscally responsible and essential to community safety. CASES is committed to advocating for a system that prioritizes potential over punishment and offers real pathways to healing and stability.

To learn more about the Independent Rikers Commission and the full Blueprint to Close Rikers, visit www.morejustnyc.org.

Follow us (@casesnyc on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram) for updates on how we are working to make the criminal legal system more fair, humane, and effective in New York City.