A joint venture led by global architecture and infrastructure firm AECOM has been awarded a $107.4 million contract by the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) for the development of four new correctional facilities set to replace the existing Rikers Island jail complex.

AECOM will lead the project as part of a joint venture with Philadelphia-based construction management firm Hill International.

The new correctional facilities will be located on sites scattered across the city, with Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx each set to receive a new jail.

In a press release announcing their selection, AECOM writes, "new, state-of-the-art, borough-based facilities will enable New York City to make considerable improvements for people in detention, their visiting families and NYC Department of Correction employees. Each new facility will integrate health, educational and re-entry programs, as well as community space."

The team selection follows the 2017 decision to move forward with closing Rikers Island, a deeply troubled facility with a long history of mismanagement and inhumane treatment of the incarcerated people housed within its confines. A 2017 independent commission report investigating Rikers Island found that the jail “functions as an expensive penal colony” where a “culture of violence and neglect” reigns over inmates, according to The New York Post. A 2014 United States Justice Department (DOJ) report described a “deep-seated culture of violence” at the facility that resulted in the imposition of a consent decree by the DOJ over New York City Department of Corrections in 2015.

The latest plan aims to expand a set of existing facilities so that they can make up for the lost capacity that will result from closing Rikers Island, which mainly houses inmates awaiting trial. The new jails are planned for sites adjacent to borough courthouses, part of an attempt to facilitate inmate travel between jails and their scheduled court appearances.

Though the projected size of each of the new jails was recently downsized due to the city’s falling crime rate, each of the new jails has faced significant push-back from local community groups. It is expected that the Rikers Island facility will permanently close in 2026. A timeline for the development of the replacement facilities has not been announced.