Council Member Ruben Diaz Sr - Shut Down the Horizon Juvenile Center Now Before Someone Gets Killed!

What You Should Know
By Councilman Rubén Díaz Sr.
District 18 Bronx County, New York
 
Shut Down the Horizon Juvenile Center Now Before Someone Gets Killed!

You should know that New York’s media is paying very close attention to reports about the dangerous inmate situation at the Horizon Juvenile Center located here in Bronx County. Their October 4, 2018 headlines say it all:

The New York Times: “Teenagers Were Moved Off Rikers for Safety. Their Brawls Came, Too.”

The Wall Street Journal: “20 Guards Injured During Brawl at Juvenile Detention Center in Bronx. Guards’ union calls the facility unsafe and dangerous”

The New York Daily News: “Juvie Beatdown. 20 jailers injured breaking up gang brawl”

The New York Post: “Guards: Shut new juvie jail. 20 officers injured in gang melee”

It is important for you to know that the Horizon Juvenile Center has only been open for just one week and already, it is a nightmare!

I strongly support the Correction Officers Benevolent Association’s demand that the Mayor of the City of New York shut down the Horizon Juvenile Center immediately and return the inmates to Rikers Island, before a life is lost.

You should already know that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to close Rikers and build prisons in four boroughs. His plan may simply be a means to eventually expand La Guardia Airport.

You should know that the Bronx once had its own prison, the Bronx House of Detention, once located at 653 River Avenue. It was closed in 2000 and then served as a homeless shelter. In 2007 it was demolished to make way for the Bronx Terminal Market Shopping Center.

Mayor de Blasio’s goal to close Rikers, whether good or bad, cannot be done by this rush to transfer 16 and 17-year old inmates into any unsafe facility. It endangers both inmates and correction officers. 

Ladies and gentlemen, we need to do all we can to prevent our prison guards as well as our city’s 16 and 17-year old prison population from being placed in any prison facility that is dangerous. No one deserves this. We must not accept a culture of violence. The Horizon Juvenile Center needs to be shut down, now!

I am Councilman Rev. Rubén Díaz and this is what you should know.