Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday night signed a new executive order extending the long-running emergency declaration governing the city’s jails and Rikers Island, while requiring Department of Correction leadership to produce a concrete plan to unwind years of suspended jail rules including restrictions on solitary confinement.
The order renews, for another five days, the state of emergency first declared in September 2021. That has allowed the Department of Correction to bypass numerous laws and Board of Correction Minimum Standards intended to regulate jail conditions.
But it also acknowledges a central criticism of the prior administration: that repeated extensions came without any roadmap for compliance.
“Emergency orders previously issued did not provide or require a plan for actions that would enable DOC to come into compliance with applicable laws and regulations,” the new order states
Under the directive, DOC must now develop and submit to the mayor, within 45 days, a plan “to achieve full compliance with applicable laws and regulations that presently do not apply pursuant to Emergency Executive Orders,” in consultation with the city Law Department.
That deadline falls on Feb. 19.
“I was elected because of my values, and my promise to always be honest with New Yorkers — and now is a moment for blunt truths,” Mamdani said in a statement announcing the order. “The previous administration’s refusal to meet their legal obligations on Rikers has left us with troubling conditions that will take time to resolve.”
A Conundrum
The move highlights the dilemma confronting the new mayor: how to dismantle an emergency framework his predecessor relied on renewing every five days while the jail system remains under federal oversight and before finding his own correction commissioner.
The current commissioner, Lynelle Maginley-Liddie, and her predecessor, Louis Molina, were both appointed by former mayor Eric Adams. They have opposed any limitations on the use of solitary confinement while at the same time arguing that the department doesn’t use that sort of punishment.
Multiple sources familiar with City Hall and jail operations said Mamdani is nowhere near close to naming a new DOC commissioner. That has so far left the department under interim leadership at a moment when it is being ordered to chart a path toward sweeping operational changes.
By contrast, Adams announced his choice for DOC commissioner weeks before taking office in 2022.
Adams routinely renewed the emergency declaration throughout his tenure, using it to suspend Local Law 42, a City Council measure passed in 2024 that sharply curtailed solitary confinement.
Former mayor Bill de Blasio was the first to sign the same emergency declaration to essentially block a new Risk Management Accountability System designed by the city’s Board of Correction after years of deliberation.
De Blasio and Adams argued the restrictions would endanger staff and detainees alike.
Mamdani faced a Monday deadline to either renew the order or allow the Board of Correction’s Minimum Standards — including rules sharply limiting solitary confinement — to come into effect.
Instead, he extended the emergency while signaling that it cannot continue indefinitely, noting in the order that the state of emergency “continues for the present pending the expedited development and implementation” of a compliance plan.
‘Profound Harm’
The directive comes as the DOC remains under the supervision of a federal judge. Laura Swain, who has handled the case for more than a decade and has spent the past six months reviewing potential candidates for a new remediation manager who will oversee key aspects of jail operations after years of violence, deaths and staffing shortages.
Correction officials have long maintained that alternatives to solitary confinement — including specialized housing units and increased clinical staffing — require resources the department does not currently have.
The three unions representing jail officers have also strenuously opposed any plan to restrict the use of solitary confinement. They contend the harsh punishment is the only way to control detainees who act out.
But research has shown that putting people in solitary confinement for long periods of time has serious consequences especially for younger people.
The long-running battle over limiting the use of solitary confinement in New York City intensified following the death of Layleen Polanco on June 7, 2019.
The 27-year-old transgender woman was in the ninth day of a 20-day solitary confinement sentence when she was found lifeless inside her Rikers cell. She was being held in lieu of a $500 bond for misdemeanor sex work and drug possession charges.
Mamdani’s press office did not immediately respond to questions about how his administration plans to reconcile the emergency order, the federal court’s involvement, and the absence of permanent DOC leadership.
During his campaign, Mamdani repeatedly called Rikers Island “a stain on the history of our city” and pledged to close the jail complex. But he has not yet detailed how his administration plans to manage the system in the interim, as the jail population continues to rise and the long-promised borough-based facilities remain under construction despite a local law requiring the closure of Rikers by 2027.
Incoming City Council Speaker Julie Menin has warned against further delays in instituting the legally required solitary ban.
“The City Council voted overwhelmingly to end solitary confinement because it is proven to cause profound harm and makes our jails less safe,” Menin told THE CITY last week. “That law should have already been implemented, but the previous mayor continued to rely on emergency executive orders to delay it.”
