Anti-Jail Protesters Disrupt Hearing On Plan To Replace Rikers

NEW YORK — A hearing on Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan to replace Rikers Island with four new lockups erupted into chaos Wednesday morning when raucous anti-jail protesters disrupted the proceedings.

The City Planning Commission was forced to pause its sole public hearing on the project for more than 15 minutes after activists shouted over testimony from Dana Kaplan, a deputy director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, which has spearheaded the plan to erect a new jail in each borough but Staten Island.

"No new jail! Close Rikers now!" the protesters chanted before the commission's chair, Marisa Lago, asked NYPD cops to remove those who were making a scene. Activists responded by shouting at the 13-member panel to let them speak about the plans.

"As soon as we are able to continue with the public hearing, we gladly will," Lago said, before putting the hearing into a recess. "We have many speakers who are eager to speak."

The Department of City Planning said no one was arrested or forcibly taken out of the hearing at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Midtown Manhattan.

The disruption reflected the heated opposition to the new jails from community advocates and anti-incarceration activists at a key step in the land-use review process.

The planning commission held Wednesday's hearing as it formally considers the proposal to erect four new jails with 1,150 beds each in Lower Manhattan, Downtown Brooklyn, Kew Gardens and Mott Haven. The commission must eventually vote on the plans, which will go to the City Council if they are approved.

The rowdy protests were followed by formal testimony from community advocates opposed to the new lockups, which the city wants to open by 2026. They have been joined in their fight by Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and community boards in all four boroughs.

"The culture of Rikers has not been addressed at all," said Sherman Kane of Woodhaven, the co-chair of the Queens Community Board 9 Land Use & Housing Committee. "There has been no plan to prevent the culture of Rikers from being place in all four boroughs."

The de Blasio administration has maintained that the new jails are necessary to replace Rikers Island — an isolated penal colony notorious for its violence and inhumane conditions — once the city's inmate population drops to 4,000.

The new facilities will be safely designed, keep detainees closer to courthouses and give them better access to services that help them navigate the justice system, city officials have argued.

"They will erase this stain on the soul of the city," said Jonathan Lippman, the former state chief judge who chaired a commission that recommended closing Rikers. "That’s what Rikers Island is — it’s something that’s contrary to all the values that we hold dear in New York City."

But anti-incarceration activists want the island shuttered and no jails built in its place. Some have argued that no jail can be humane. They have also questioned whether Rikers will actually be closed, as there is nothing legally binding the city to do so.

Kaplan pushed back on that concern Wednesday, saying closing the complex is at the heart of the project.

"The entire purpose of this is the closure of Rikers Island," she said. "This broad-based commitment goes beyond this administration, so I think that that is something that will be manifested."