Neighborhood leaders, residents protest
community-based jail in Kew Gardens
BY JULIA MORO
More than three dozen
community members and
leaders from across Queens
gathered on Friday, Aug. 6,
to protest the construction of
a controversial communitybased
jail in Kew Gardens.
The jail, located on Union
Turnpike near Queens Criminal
Court, broke ground in
June. It will be 19 stories, 1.4
million square feet and will
hold about 886 inmates.
The borough-based jail
was approved after the New
York City Council approved
plans in 2019 to close the
detention facility on Rikers
Island by 2026.
To go forward with closing
the 10,000-bed facility,
the city plans to build smaller
jails in Brooklyn, Manhattan,
Queens and the Bronx to
house the inmates currently
at Rikers.
But protestors expressed
their support for fixing and
rebuilding Rikers instead
of moving inmates to their
community.
Councilman Robert Holden,
the only elected official at
the rally, said Rikers Island
should be rebuilt with mental
health facilities available
and a courthouse.
“The mayor doesn’t want
to do that, and my City Council
colleagues would rather
close Rikers as a symbol of
mass incarceration,” Holden
said. “It’s going to cost a lot
more money, we don’t have
that money and we’d rather
put it into the infrastructure
of the city.”
Holden, whose Council
District 30 doesn’t include
Kew Gardens, criticized his
colleagues for not showing
up to the rally and encouraged
residents not to vote for
anyone who supports this
community-based jail and
closing Rikers.
Republican mayoral candidate
Curtis Sliwa also
spoke at the rally, saying
there is no money for community
jails.
“Bill de Blasio, who has
single-handedly destroyed
our city, is leaving behind a
$6 billion growing debt,” Sliwa
Community members rally against the planned Kew Gardens community-based jail. Photos by Julia Moro
said. “How are you going
to finance new community
jails?”
Donghui Zang, one of the
protest organizers, said that
Republicans and Democrats
had come together on this issue
to stop the building of the
Kew Gardens jail.
“The community does not
want it,” Zang said. “This is
our community, our streets,
our schools and our children
— we don’t want the jail. It
costs $8.7 billion. Keep Rikers
open. We have homeless
that need to be taken care
of and schools that need
money.”
The mayor’s office did
not respond to QNS’ request
for comment by publication
time.
The borough-based jail is
expected to be completed by
2027, housing inmates from
Rikers and a separate facility
for all of the city’s female
detainees.
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.2 COM | AUG. 13 - AUG. 19, 2021
Councilman Robert Holden speaks during the protest.
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