Mayor de Blasio's plan to replace the notorious jails on Rikers Island with four smaller facilities throughout the city is inching closer toward reality.

The New York City Council has hosted its first and only public hearing on the proposal to reshape the city's criminal justice system. The plan is intended to shut down Rikers, which has been blasted by critics for decades for awful conditions and mistreatment of inmates. But there has been vocal opposition from both community members around the proposed sites for the new jails, as well as from some criminal justice reform advocates.

Brooklyn Eagle reporter Noah Goldberg joined WNYC's Richard Hake to discuss this week's hearing and the next step for the new jails.