{"id":3421,"date":"2025-08-05T10:09:30","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T14:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multi.nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/city-council-celebrates-50m-mental-health-win-presses-mayor-on-rikers-closure\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T10:09:30","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T14:09:30","slug":"city-council-celebrates-50m-mental-health-win-presses-mayor-on-rikers-closure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/nycpolitics\/city-council-celebrates-50m-mental-health-win-presses-mayor-on-rikers-closure\/","title":{"rendered":"City Council Celebrates $50M Mental Health Win, Presses Mayor on Rikers Closure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Leaders of the <\/span><b>New York City Council<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and supporters of mental health gathered on the steps of City Hall on Monday to commemorate a $50 million investment in public safety and mental health. They also urged <\/span><b>Mayor Eric Adams<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to act quickly to put the programs into place and close Rikers Island.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speaker Adams Presses Mayor to Accelerate Jail Reforms and Service Expansion<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By increasing access to mental health care and support services throughout the city, the funds, which are part of the recently approved fiscal year 2026 budget, are meant to address the underlying causes of crime and lower incarceration rates.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe council is proud to have secured over $50 million in meaningful investments into mental health care programs and essential safety solutions in this year\u2019s city budget that our communities have long needed,\u201d said <\/span><b>Council Speaker Adrienne Adams<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u201cThese investments are critical to our goals of improving mental health issues in our city, safely reducing the inflated jail population, and, ultimately, closing Rikers for good.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Calls to Shut Rikers Grow Louder<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rikers Island has long been a symbol of systemic failure, with nine inmate deaths reported so far in 2025 and a federal judge ruling in May to place the facility under receivership due to \u201congoing violations of constitutional rights.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Two more deaths in June, just 78 minutes apart, have renewed scrutiny of the jail\u2019s conditions. City Council members say Rikers has essentially become a mental health institution by default, with over half the population diagnosed with a mental illness.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFor too long, the city\u2019s failure to effectively address the mental health crisis and resistance to advancing proven solutions has allowed Rikers to become a de facto mental health facility,\u201d said Speaker Adams. \u201cThe mayoral administration must take immediate action.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mental Health Programs Seen as Key to Jail Reform<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The budget includes funding for crisis response teams, mental health drop-in centers, and anti-recidivism programs aimed at diverting individuals from the criminal justice system into care.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cTrue rehabilitation requires equipping our city with the tools to deliver life-saving care, reduce recidivism, and expand supportive housing for those most in need,\u201d said <\/span><b>Council Member Linda Lee<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, Chair of the Mental Health Committee.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Mayor Adams\u2019 office defended the administration\u2019s record, calling the budget the \u201cBest Budget Ever,\u201d and pointing to broad investments in shelters, substance use treatment, psychiatric care, and youth violence prevention.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Still, City Council members insist the clock is ticking and action must follow funding.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Leaders of the New York City Council and supporters of mental health gathered on the steps of City Hall on Monday to commemorate a $50 million investment in public safety [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3422,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-nyc-politics","category-mayor"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.4 (Yoast SEO v26.6) - 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