Mayor Adams reviews policy after early release of homeless man results in murder

NEW YORK (PIX11) – City Hall officials finally laid out a clear timeline as to why the homeless man accused of stabbing three people to death more than one week ago was released from jail early before the alleged attack.

Ramon Rivera was released from Rikers for “good behavior” despite assaulting a corrections officer and showing signs of mental health issues.

The Mayor explained Tuesday that the assault on the officer happened while he was being detained before sentencing.

Under the law and current policy, it had no bearing on the early release calculation.

Mayor Adams said he is now investigating whether there is a policy change he can make to prevent this from happening again, but he is also focused on broader solutions.

He would like to pivot in the plan to build four borough-based jails around the city and close Rikers.

The Mayor said half the people who end up in jails have mental health issues, and nearly one in five have a severe issue.

“One of those jail should be a state-of-the-art mental health facility where people can get the help they need,” Adams said. “It is criminal. We are locking up people with severe mental health illness.”

Speaking just after the Mayor outside City Hall, Bronx Congressman Richie Torres said he supported that idea but emphasized that New York City, State, and the federal government have really failed to lead on mental health.

He said the federal government must tweak laws to fund more mental health facilities and workers.

Torres also said the state needs to make it easier to involuntarily commit people who are clearly incapable of taking care of themselves. This is something the mayor has also been calling for.

Finally, Torres said the city’s Department of Correction never should have released Ramon Rivera from jail early— ahead of the alleged stabbing spree that claimed three lives.

“The layers and layers of government failure that led to Ramon Rivera's rampage against innocent New Yorkers is evidence of a broken system,” Torres said.