NYC Unveils Plans For New Jails To Replace Rikers Island

NEW YORK CITY HALL — New York City officials unveiled plans Wednesday for the four jails that will replace the infamous Rikers Island complex, pledging to keep locals in the loop as they move forward.

Newly built lockups with modern, more humane designs will replace existing buildings in Lower Manhattan, Downtown Brooklyn and Kew Gardens by 2027, while a fourth jail is planned for a tow pound in the Bronx's Mott Haven neighborhood, officials said.

Each building would hold about 1,500 beds and space for on-site programming, plans that couldn't be realized by just renovating the facilities that are there now, city officials said.

"We anticipate that this will be a modern, humane jail system that will promote the well-being of people who work there, officers and staff, as well as those who are incarcerated there by providing space for programming and a connection to the outside when people return to their communities," said Elizabeth Glazer, director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice.

The new buildings are part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's 10-year plan to close Rikers Island, a jail complex notorious for violence, once the city's jail population drops to 5,000. Borough-based jails will keep incarcerated New Yorkers closer to their homes and stem the dangerous conditions Rikers fosters, officials contend.

The de Blasio administration released a scoping document Wednesday outlining plans for the new buildings and concepts of how they will be designed. Officials hope to have City Council approval for the jails by the summer of next year.

The designs aim to create "fairer, safer, more efficient" jails where incarcerated people have better access to services that help them navigate the justice system, and correction officers can better keep an eye on them, Glazer said.

The jails' housing units would generally have 32 beds at most, compared with the 50 beds in some Rikers units. The open floor plans would bring more natural light into the jails while visiting areas would be revamped to be more welcoming, Glazer said.

The administration promised a "robust" process for New Yorkers to give feedback on the plans, starting late next month with a series of community meetings in each borough.

"This is just the beginning of the conversation that we'd look to have with everyone who feels that they are impacted or has concerns, suggestions or observations as to our vision," said city Community Affairs Commissioner Marco Carrion.

But the plans are unlikely to move forward quietly as the city works to move people accused of crimes from an isolated island into some densely populated areas.

State Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou of Manhattan called an "urgent community meeting" Wednesday afternoon to address the plans for her borough's jail. She said the site was "changed with no community input."

"I am also in support of closing Rikers island and making sure we have criminal justice reform," Niou said on Twitter. "However, I am not in support of the non transparent process in which our city has taken on this task."

And JustLeadershipUSA, an advocacy group that has led the push to close Rikers, said de Blasio's administration has not done enough to "decarcerate" the city.

"New Yorkers have led the effort to #CLOSErikers –we know it can close in less than ten years while New York continues efforts to decarcerate," the group said in a statement Wednesday.

Here's a closer look at what the city's plans would mean for each borough.

Lower Manhattan — 80 Centre St.

The current building housing the city's Marriage Bureau, court services and offices for the Manhattan District Attorney would be demolished and replaced with a 430-foot jail with retail and community space on the ground floor.

The north tower of the current Manhattan Detention Complex — also known as The Tombs — at 125 White St. would be decommissioned as a jail and possibly redeveloped as a community space, said Dana Kaplan, a deputy director at the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice.

"This seemed like something that was better both for the criminal justice system, but also would really return some land back to the community," Kaplan said.

The new jail would be next door to the Manhattan Criminal Court. The DA's office would also get renovated office space as part of the project, Kaplan said.

Downtown Brooklyn — 275 Atlantic Ave.

The Brooklyn Detention Complex would be demolished and replaced with a new jail up to 430 feet tall, with ground-floor retail and community space along Atlantic Avenue. Staten Island's inmates would also be housed there, Glazer said.

The new building would have a larger waiting area for visitors, who currently have to line up outside along Boerum Place, Kaplan said. The plans also call for a 277-space underground parking garage for Department of Correction staff to "minimize disruption on the local neighborhood," she said.

Kew Gardens — 126-02 82nd Ave.

The current Queens Detention Facility hasn't been used as an overnight jail in years, Kaplan said. It too would be torn down and replaced with a new, larger jail adjacent to the Queens Criminal Court.

More space is necessary to expand the jail's capacity and accommodate the programs the city wants to offer incarcerated New Yorkers, Kaplan said. The building would cover part of an existing parking lot, but a new parking structure would be built to make up for any lost spots in addition to an underground parking garage.

Mott Haven — 320 Concord Ave.

As previously announced, the Bronx's jail is slated for the site of the NYPD's tow pound. But the new lockup would only cover the half of the lot closest to the Bruckner Expressway, Kaplan said.

The other half would be used for some kind of community development, possibly affordable housing, that the city would work with the neighborhood to create, she said.

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. has criticized the city's plans to put a jail on the Mott Haven site, saying the borough's residents should play a big role in where it ultimately goes. Diaz has expressed support for a plan to develop the area that calls for a mixed-use apartment building on the tow pound site.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Elizabeth Glazer’s title. She is the director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, not the commissioner.

(Lead image: A conceptual design of a new jail site proposed for 80 Centre St. in Lower Manhattan. Image courtesy of Mayor Bill de Blasio's Office)