Before Zohran Mamdani's first state Assembly campaign, he slammed New York City Council members for voting to close the Rikers Island jail complex because, in his eyes, they didn't go far enough.
"This city's much-heralded class of progressive electeds will take us only to the point of reform, not beyond," Mamdani wrote in a 2019 X post.
Seemingly clarifying what he meant by "beyond," he used the hashtag "NoNewJails" in the post.
Now Mamdani, the Democrats' mayoral nominee and front-runner in the race a month before the Nov. 4 election, faces the prospect of replacing Rikers with four new detention centers, as envisioned in the council-adopted plan, according to Politico.
On Sunday, Mamdani, a Democratic Socialists of America member, told reporters that while he's committed to closing Rikers and reducing the inmate population, he will ensure that the council's plan is enacted if he's elected.
"Part of closing Rikers Island is following through on the contractual obligations that the city has with the construction of these new jails," Mamdani said. "That doesn't preclude me from meeting with New Yorkers who have immense concerns about them, but it does ensure that the focus has to be on following that law."
The Queens assemblyman's shift on the issue is another example of how he has moderated his political stances since winning the Democratic Party primary in June.
As he has pivoted toward the general election, Mamdani has been trying to distance himself from his previous calls to cut funding to the New York Police Department, legalize prostitution, and divest from Israeli companies, in an effort to appeal to more moderate voters in November, as well as avoid friction with City Council members, state leaders, and law enforcement unions.
Mamdani's newfound commitment to building jails is welcome news to people such as former City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who calls the Rikers Island complex an "[expletive] pit."
Rikers "is not salvageable," she told Politico. "The concept here is that we have to rebuild and rebuild it in a way that is more humane, in a way that is more fulfilling of helping people achieve their full potential."
To Mamdani's critics, his focus on reducing the prison population is alarming.
"Zohran said 'just let them out!'" Mayor Eric Adams said in September, referring to the more than 7,000 people incarcerated on Rikers. "They go back to the communities that they preyed on in the first place."
Politico reported that there are two primary concerns for New York's next mayor to deal with regarding the city's jails. The first has to do with managing jails where violence is so prevalent that a federal judge is set to appoint a "remediation manager" with broad authority over the city's Department of Correction.
Adams, a Democrat, has reportedly fought to retain control, saying the city is turning a corner, but Mamdani has suggested he would support the oversight.
The other main issue is the woefully behind-schedule plan to close the Rikers complex and finish construction on new jails in downtown Brooklyn, the South Bronx, Kew Gardens in Queens, and Chinatown in Manhattan.
Mandela Jones, a senior adviser to New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, who has pushed to close Rikers, told the outlet that the situation isn't "that difficult in terms of politics."
"All the hard politics stuff has been done," Jones said. "It's just hard from an actual management position.
"You need a competent effort. You need to have a commitment to care about improving the situation. The problem with this [Adams'] administration is they never had that."
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.