‘Major step’ toward closing Rikers Island coming this summer

NEW YORK — A “major step” toward shuttering Rikers Island will come this summer as the George Motchan Detention Center (GMDC), which houses about 600 men, will become the complex’s first jail to close. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration made the announcement Tuesday and said the jail’s closure is made possible by the “dramatic reduction” of the city’s jail population, which fell to below 9,000 last month — the lowest on record since 1982. City officials said the GMDC’s closure, […]