The commissioner of the New York City Department of Correction addressed his efforts to improve conditions at Rikers Island during a conference Tuesday before a federal judge, who agreed to give parties in the case three more weeks to work out a reform plan instead of moving ahead to the receivership sought by the plaintiffs.

DOC Commissioner Louis Molina urged U.S. District Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the Southern District of New York to allow him and the independent monitor in a long-running case, captioned Nunez v. City of New York, to implement "long overdue" reform.