Giving Compass' Take:

• In this podcast, Seth Barron, City Journal's associate editor, and Rafael Mangual,  fellow and deputy director of legal policy at the Manhattan Institute, discuss the implications for the planned closing of Rikers Island. 

• What are the critical issues with Rikers Island, and what will closing the facility solve?  How are donors getting involved? 

• Learn more about the battle to close Rikers Island. 

Rafael A. Mangual joins Seth Barron to discuss New York City’s plan to replace the jail complex on Rikers Island with four borough-based jails and what it could mean for public order in the city.

Seth Barron: Welcome back to 10 Blocks, the podcast of City Journal. This is your host for today, Seth Barron, City Journal's associate editor. I'm joined today by Rafael Mangual, fellow and deputy director of legal policy at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor at City Journal. We're talking today about New York City's plan to close Rikers Island and build four smaller jails to replace what some have called a brutal penal colony in the East River. The city council voted last week to move ahead with the plan. So we're just going to talk about what the implications of this new move are. Rafael, thanks for joining us on 10 Blocks.

Rafael Mangual: Thanks so much for having me.

Seth Barron: So why don't you tell us what was the problem with Rikers Island? Why does it have to be closed?

Rafael Mangual: Well, I'm not really sure I'm the one that can answer that question. It doesn't seem to me like closing Rikers Island is an imperative based on some of the problems that have been pointed out, right? From what I understand, the experience for inmates is not particularly good, but what that has to do with the actual set of buildings that they're housed in is really unclear to me. So, it seems to me that there was kind of a predetermined, politically motivated decision that this Island needed to be shut down and that the system needed to be borough-based. And yeah, I personally don't see why we have to go down that route.

Read the full article about closing Rikers Island by Rafael A. Mangual at City Journal.