Elizabeth Crowley revealed to NY1 that she still supports the closing of Riker’s Island and the placement of incarcerated individuals in facilities closer to residential communities. NY1 reported the following –
…it may be Crowley’s support of closing Riker's Island, which draws the most distinction.

“I worry about the people who work there and the inmates there. They are not safe on that island,“ said Crowley.

[Robert] Holden supports keeping it open because closing it would create more community jails. “Why would anybody be for community jails and have prisoners in the community? I mean I don’t get that,“ said Holden.

Not coincidentally, there have been talks about using Riker’s to expand LaGuardia Airport and for waterfront residential development. Moving the jail violence problem from an isolated area to a residential community will not solve it. The culture of Riker’s certainly needs to be changed but the mayor and his council stooges are just using this issue as a smokescreen for their land development schemes.