Rikers in Crisis: A Rare Visit From the Mayor, What Role Judges Play

Mayor de Blasio visited Rikers Island Monday in his first trip since 2017. Jake Offenhartz, Gothamist/WNYC reporter, was there, and reports on what the mayor saw and said about the ongoing crisis.

Then, while Governor Hochul has signed legislation to release a couple of hundred detainees on Rikers Island amid the escalating crisis, New York City judges continue to set bail and send more people to jail. George Joseph, reporter with WNYC’s Race and Justice Unit and Akash Mehta, editor-in-chief of New York Focus, talk about their investigation into what criteria judges use to set bail, and which judges do it the most.