The City of New York has taken a significant step toward closing Rikers Island, selecting two major construction firms to build a new jail in Manhattan, a key component of its borough-based jails initiative.

The Department of Design and Construction announced earlier this month that Tutor Perini and O & G Industries will lead the project to construct a 1,040-bed facility on White Street in Chinatown, Lower Manhattan — one of the last major contracts needed to advance the Rikers shutdown plan.

This project moves forward despite recent remarks from Mayor Eric Adams, who questioned the feasibility of closing Rikers due to rising costs and an increase in the jail population.

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Adams had called for a potential “Plan B” back in March but has yet to propose any formal alternative as the number of detainees on Rikers continues to climb. The latest figures show 6,628 detainees held in Rikers facilities, up from 5,400 in early 2022, while the borough-based jails plan aims to accommodate only 4,500 detainees across its four new facilities.

As it stands, the borough-based facilities — including this Manhattan site — may lack sufficient capacity for the growing jail population. However, city officials and advocates argue that the transition away from Rikers is about more than just space. Darren Mack, co-director of Freedom Agenda, highlighted the destructive nature of Rikers’ isolation.

“The isolation and deprivation of Rikers is designed to feed a cycle of violence, not interrupt it,” Mack told THE CITY. “If we want safer communities, we can’t achieve that by sending people to fight for their lives on an out-of-sight, out-of-mind penal colony.”

This shift in jail policy, originally launched under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, reflects a broader movement to improve conditions and bring accused individuals closer to their communities, despite skepticism over whether it will adequately meet future detention demands.