A federal judge overseeing the Rikers Island jail complex in New York City is weighing two distinct proposals on how to fix the city’s troubled and violent lockups.

For nearly a decade, the judge, Laura Taylor Swain, has been monitoring the city’s jails to keep them in compliance with a court order to overhaul Rikers. But conditions at the complex — which now houses about 6,600 people — have continued to deteriorate.

Since 2022, at least 35 people have died either while being held at city jails or shortly after being released from custody, according to city data.

In November, Judge Swain found the city in contempt for failing to stem violence and excessive force at Rikers. She said she was leaning toward stripping control of the city’s jails from Mayor Eric Adams and handing it to an outside authority, known as a receiver. That remedy, the judge said, would “make the management of the use of force and safety aspects of the Rikers Island jails ultimately answerable directly to the court.”

The appointment of a federal receiver is considered a last resort. Judge Swain has refrained from imposing one for years, even as lawyers for Rikers detainees called for a takeover.

Lawyers representing the inmates and the city each sent Judge Swain plans for how a receivership could work. The proposals, contained in a nearly 1,000-page document, are the culmination of a decade of motions, court hearings and rulings.