Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
Mayor de Blasio called the pact “a huge step forward on our path to closing Rikers Island.”
By Michael V. Cusenza
The City is briskly moving forward on its plan to shutter infamous Rikers Island in favor of a smaller, borough-based jail system, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who made the announcement together last week at City Hall.
De Blasio and Johnson noted that they have agreed to a single public review process for four proposed sites in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Queens. These locations together will provide off-island space for 5,000 detainees, and will include the three existing Department of Correction facilities in Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan, as well as a new site on the grounds of a former City Police Department tow pound in the Bronx.
“This agreement marks a huge step forward on our path to closing Rikers Island,” de Blasio said. “In partnership with the City Council, we can now move ahead with creating a borough-based jail system that’s smaller, safer and fairer. I want to thank these representatives, who share our vision of a more rehabilitative and humane criminal justice system that brings staff and detainees closer to their communities.”
The World’s Borough site is the Queens Detention Center on 82nd Avenue in Kew Gardens.
“The reopening of the Queens Detention Center not only makes sense but is the right thing to do,” said Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills), who represents Kew Gardens. “This proposal restores the center back to its original purpose and ensures that Queens’ borough-based jail facility is located in our civic center, close to our courts. This smaller facility will bolster the safety for our Department of Correction staff, will create an environment that is more conducive to rehabilitation and will save taxpayer dollars on transportation costs. I look forward to engaging with the residents of my district on this proposal and I thank the mayor and the speaker for continuing us down the path of closing Rikers Island.”
The borough sites will need to go through the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure – the public scrutiny process that includes hearings and recommendations by the community board, borough president, the City Council and the City Planning Commission. According to the City, last Wednesday’s agreement will consolidate the proposal to renovate, expand, 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 could be submitted for certification as early as by the end of 2018, and the design process could begin as early as next summer.
The City has noted, however, that because existing borough-based facilities have the capacity to house only approximately 2,300 people, there is no immediate way to close Rikers Island safely and house the population off island. Expanding the capacity in the boroughs while simultaneously implementing a series of strategies to significantly reduce the jail population is currently underway.
Critics of the pact are wary of the borough jails and the seemingly breakneck pace that has been implemented to get them up and running. Additionally, Bronx lawmakers blasted de Blasio and Johnson for shoe-horning their borough’s facility into the deal without consulting them.
“I hope that, going forward, this lack of outreach is not a harbinger of the amount of community input the people of my borough will have in this process,” Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. lamented.
