Rikers Island is therefore not a prison by US terminology, which typically holds offenders serving longer-term sentences. The Rikers Island complex, which consists of ten jails, holds local offenders who are awaiting trial, serving sentences of one year or less, or are temporarily placed there pending transfer to another facility. In October 2019, the New York City Council voted to close down the facility by 2026. In February 2018, a state oversight commission suggested that New York state might move to close the facility before that deadline. In a 2017 report titled "Smaller, Safer, Fairer: A roadmap to closing Rikers Island", former Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his intention to close the jail complex at Rikers Island within ten years, if the city's crime rates stay low and the population at Rikers were reduced from 10,000 to 5,000. In 2015, there were 9,424 assaults, the highest number in five years. Violence on Rikers Island has been increasing in recent years. In May 2013, Rikers Island ranked as one of the ten worst correctional facilities in the United States, based on reporting in Mother Jones magazine. Rikers Island has a reputation for violence, both abuse and neglect of inmates, attracting increased press and judicial scrutiny that has resulted in numerous rulings against the New York City government, and numerous assaults by inmates on uniformed and civilian staff, resulting in often serious injuries. According to a 2021 analysis by New York City Comptroller, it costs the city approximately $556,539 to detain one person for one year at Rikers Island. The rest of the population have been convicted and are serving short sentences. The majority (85%) of detainees are pretrial defendants, either held on bail or remanded in custody. The complex, operated by the New York City Department of Correction, has a budget of $860 million a year, a staff of 9,000 officers and 1,500 civilians managing 100,000 admissions per year and an average daily population of 10,000 inmates. The island is home to one of the world's largest correctional institutions and mental institutions, and has been described as New York's most well-known jail.
It is part of Queens Community Board 1 and uses an East Elmhurst, Queens, ZIP Code of 11370 for mail. The island is politically part of the Bronx, although bridge access is from Queens. The first stages of expansion were accomplished largely by convict labor hauling in ashes for landfill. Named after Abraham Rycken, who took possession of the island in 1664, the island was originally under 100 acres (40 ha) in size, but has since grown to more than 400 acres (160 ha). Rikers Island is a 413.17-acre (167.20-hectare) island in the East River between Queens and the Bronx that contains New York City's main jail complex.