Modern facilities will be designed to be integrated into surrounding neighborhoods and promote safety and support for the people who work and reside within them
The de Blasio administration today unveiled plans for the building of four modern, community-based jails throughout the City that will replace the detention facilities on Rikers Island. The innovative plan envisions facilities that will be fully integrated into the surrounding neighborhoods with community space, ground-floor retail and parking. The planned facilities will also provide a safer environment to work and will allow people in jail to remain closer to their loved ones, as well as offer quality health, education, visitation and recreational services that will help people reintegrate once they return to their communities.
“We’re taking a big step forward in the process of closing Rikers Island and creating a modern community-based jail system that is smaller, safer and fairer,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Now we can move full steam ahead on the engagement and planning for our new facilities so we can close Rikers as fast as possible.”
“These new jails will enable this city to close Rikers Island, which I know will help make this city a better place. The new facilities are designed to be safer for both the people incarcerated as well as the staff. The next chapter of criminal justice in New York City is beginning, and I couldn’t be prouder,” said City Council Speaker Corey Johnson.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans to close the jails on Rikers Island in 2017 and released a roadmap for a smaller, safer and fairer justice system. The roadmap included plans to safely reduce the jail population to 5,000 people and transition to a local borough-based jail system.
Progress on these strategies is underway with the partnership of New Yorkers, the City Council, the courts, district attorneys, defenders, service providers, and others within the justice system. When New York City released its roadmap in June 2017, the City’s jails held an average of 9,400 people on any given day. One year later, the jail population has dropped by almost 13 percent to around 8,200, the lowest level in more than three decades.
The sites under consideration are:
- Bronx Site—320 Concord Avenue
- Brooklyn Site—275 Atlantic Avenue
- Manhattan Site—80 Centre Street
- Queens Site—126-02 82nd Avenue
“Closing Rikers and moving into newer, community-based facilities comes down to one thing – and that’s safety,” said DOC Commissioner Cynthia Brann. “These new jails will have improved interior layouts allowing officers more effective ways to supervise people in detention, and also provide space for quality education, health, and therapeutic programming. As we move forward with this transition, I want the men and women who are currently working on Rikers Island to know that the safer, state-of-the-art facilities you deserve are on the way.”
Elizabeth Glazer, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, said, “Our jails hold up a mirror to the fair functioning of our justice system. The release of today’s scoping study is another step forward on a path towards creating the safest and most humane justice system possible. It reflects a future that we have begun to sketch with many partners — New Yorkers, non-profits, justice system agencies and others — one in which jails can be civic assets, integrated into and contributing to neighborhoods; where the people incarcerated have opportunities that will permit them to thrive and contribute when they leave; and the people who work inside have the physical environment that promotes their safety.”
Each facility will contain approximately 1,500 beds in order for the City to meet the needed 6,000 beds to accommodate an average daily population of 5,000 people, while allowing space for population-specific housing requirements, such as those related to safety, security, health, and mental health, among other factors, as well as normal fluctuations in the jail population. Currently, existing borough-based facilities only have the combined operational capacity to house approximately 2,400 people.
The plans feature hundreds of parking spaces, community space and ground-floor retail as well as on-site support services. The proposal for the Bronx envisions rezoning the western portion of the site to facilitate the development of a residential building with potentially more than 200-units and ground floor retail.
The proposal will need to go through a public review – the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) – which includes hearings and recommendations by the local community board, borough president, the City Council and the City Planning Commission.
The Administration and its partners are also beginning a comprehensive engagement strategy that will go beyond what is required as part of public review of these discretionary actions. At the core of the City’s strategy will be neighborhood advisory bodies with local elected and neighborhood leaders to provide feedback on design, program, neighborhood integration and tackle a range of quality of life concerns within the neighborhoods where these sites will be located.
To date, the City has held meetings with community groups and local elected officials and conducted focus groups with correctional officers, service providers, defenders, educators, formally detained people and families of justice-involved people, among others. Engagement with the community in the weeks and months ahead will ramp up.
In February, the Mayor and the Speaker of the City Council agreed to consolidate the proposal to renovate or construct jails in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx into a single ULURP process, which will allow for a more expedited review. An application will be submitted for certification by the end of the year.
The Administration has launched an array of programs that are safely driving down the jail population, including a citywide alternative-to-bail program that allows eligible people to remain in the community while waiting for trial and a program that replaces short jail sentences for minor, low-level offenses (typically under 30 days) with services aimed at preventing reoffending. In addition, the Administration announced that every eligible person in the Department of Correction’s custody will receive re-entry services to help connect them with jobs and opportunities outside of jail, as well as be offered up to five hours of programming per day to address vocational, educational, and therapeutic needs.
EDITOR'S NOTE:
The Bronx site of 320 Concord Avenue is that of the current Bronx Tow Pound. That would mean that the city now will have to find a new home for the Bronx Tow Pound. Wouldn't it be much easier to build the new jail on the site the city will have to find for a new Tow Pound, instead of having to close the Tow Pond, dig up the area to build a new facility, and then have to find a new home for the Tow Pound?
As usual we left out the comments of those elected officials and others the mayor's people could find to say how wonderful this would be. For the record, no Bronx elected official was quoted by the mayor's people, with the exception of Councilwoman Ayala who's district is a majority Manhattan council district. That could be why she is in favor of the Tow Pound site for the new Bronx Jail.
While the Bronx site listed is said to be proposed, rumor is that certain Bronx elected officials are trying to have the large open area behind the Bronx Courthouse turned into the new Bronx Jail. This way the new jail would be right behind the Bronx Criminal Court building.
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