In her post, Ocasio-Cortez added a link to the No New Jails website and asked her followers to call their Council members to either vote against the plan or delay the vote. | Lars Niki/Getty Images for The Athena Film Festival AOC jumps into Rikers fray, opposing de Blasio's jail replacement plan

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — a standard-bearer of the progressive left — is opposing the de Blasio administration’s plan to replace Rikers Island with four borough-based jails, as the City Council prepares to vote on the controversial proposal later this month.

The city’s plan calls for closing the notoriously violent jail complex by 2026, and housing a dramatically reduced jail population in four newly constructed facilities.


The administration has argued the effort will result in a smaller, safer and more humane city jail system, and the plan has the support of a broad coalition of criminal justice activists who see it as the only viable way to finally end longstanding atrocities committed on Rikers.

But Ocasio-Cortez appears unconvinced, according an Instagram story she shared with her four million followers on Wednesday.

“We shouldn’t be building new jails,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in the post. “This plan is presented as what’s necessary to #CloseRikers, but the plan itself doesn’t even include the closure of Rikers.”

She was referring to one of the core criticisms of the No New Jails NYC group, who contend the plan does not include a legal guarantee Rikers will actually close. Neither Ocasio-Cortez’s office nor her reelection campaign commented further on her position.

She said in the post she was on her way to meeting with constituents about No New Jails NYC, a group that’s been mobilizing against the administration’s plan and opposes the construction of any new jails, even those replacing existing facilities.

The city’s plan would shutter the jail complex on Rikers, build new facilities in place of existing jails in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan, and build a new facility in the Bronx. The current population of Rikers is around 7,000, and officials estimate it will fall to 4,000 by 2026.

The stated purpose of the politically arduous move to build new jails has always been to close Rikers.

Leaders of the #CLOSErikers campaign — a coalition of 165 criminal justice and other advocacy groups organizing in support of the plan — expressed disappointment in Ocasio-Cortez weighing in on the proposal without seeking to understand the complexity of the issue.

“To just discredit this as a decision between building jails and not building jails is irresponsible for someone who has such a massive platform to create change across this country,” said Brandon Holmes, campaign coordinator for the group.

He said the No New Jails activists have mischaracterized the plan, which will result in a net decrease in the total number of city jails. He said the proposal is a “once in a generation opportunity” to close Rikers, and noted it will also allow the reform of existing facilities in the boroughs, where detainees live in conditions not much better than those at Rikers.

Holmes also noted various efforts from the administration and the Council to work into the plan a guarantee Rikers will close, further reduce the size of the jails and beef up anti-incarceration and other investments.

But with the Council vote coming up on October 17, he said he is “definitely worried” about Ocasio-Cortez’s influence on Council members.

“Seeing someone as powerful as AOC put her name behind a position that disagrees with your vote is going to scare politicians,” he said. “They know the nuances behind this situation but they’re not interested in them, they’re interested in preserving whatever power they have or influence they have.”

Ocasio-Cortez follows other politicians who have jumped on the No New Jails bandwagon, including Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, who is planning to run for Queens Borough President, and Tiffany Cabán, who voiced opposition to the Rikers plan when she was running for Queens District Attorney.

Holmes said the #CLOSErikers campaign is hoping to meet with Ocasio-Cortez. He said the group requested a meeting with her congressional office, who pointed them to her campaign office.

In her post, Ocasio-Cortez added a link to the No New Jails website and asked her followers to call their Council members to either vote against the plan or delay the vote.

City Hall spokesperson Alacia Lauer said the plan is a product of “extensive” engagement and will “ensure the permanent closure of jails on Rikers Island.”

“This historic decarceration plan to shutter the 11 active city jails, including the eight jails on Rikers Island, and replace them with four smaller, safer facilities in the boroughs is an opportunity to continue the City’s efforts that have fundamentally reshaped our criminal justice system — efforts born out of the lived experiences and hard work of activists across this city,” she said in a statement.

Joe Anuta contributed to this report.