New York, New York - New York's notorious Rikers Island jail, long criticized for unsanitary and violent conditions, will miss a deadline for the vast complex to close down, prompting disappointment from activists.

The jail, which opened in 1932 and has counted John Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman, rapper Tupac Shakur, and Sex Pistols musician Sid Vicious among its residents, was due to be shuttered by 2027.

That was a pledge by former mayor Bill de Blasio, responding to persistent issues ranging from staff shortages, broad drug use, and broken cell doors and windows.

He promised to replace Rikers with smaller facilities, but their construction is lagging behind schedule.

Lauren Stossel, a former psychiatrist at the jail who now sits on New York City's independent Board of Correction, has raised several concerns about the jail.

"Conditions generally, I think, are very poor," she told AFP, adding that violence is "rampant."

Rikers, which sits on the East River between the Bronx and Queens boroughs, primarily holds people who are awaiting trial in New York, as was the case for disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein.

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who took office this year, has strongly supported closing Rikers but has acknowledged the city will not meet the 2027 deadline.

"We are very focused on advancing the closure of Rikers Island on the fastest timeline possible," said Dana Kaplan, who is overseeing the mayor's efforts to shutter the jail.

"This can't just be a project that's about replacing one set of buildings with the other. It really is about a transformational vision of our city's pretrial justice system."

"We see the closure of Rikers Island as part of shutting the door on what has been a stained history in our city of a correctional system that does nothing to serve the people in its custody or the staff that work there every day," Kaplan said.

The first calls to close Rikers date back to the 1960s, driven by dangers for both inmates and correction officers – three of whom were injured by an inmate in early September.