
6 Council votes to expand Brooklyn House of Detention
BROOKLYN WEEKLY, OCTOBER 27, 2019
The House of D expansion is
City Council voted to approve
a $8.7 billion scheme to close the
Rikers Island jail complex and
construct four smaller boroughbased
jails in its place on Thursday.
The controversial vote passed
by a substantial 36-to-13 margin
after months of infi ghting, controversy,
protests, and political
back-and-forth, to achieve a historic
step in addressing the city’s
tainted history of incarceration,
according to the Brooklyn legislator,
in whose district the larger
“This is a historic step forward
in our city,” said Councilman
Stephen Levin (D–Boerum
Hill). “Today is a result of years
of advocacy of people who have
lived fi rst hand the tortures of
the jail.”
The plan calls for infamous
jail complex on Rikers Island —
which houses some 7,000 inmates
— to be decommissioned, and
paves the way for construction of
a 295 foot 886-bed jail facility on
Atlantic Avenue in Boerum Hill,
replacing the current 11-story 170-
foot building housing 815 beds.
Both Mayor Bill de Blasio and
Council Speaker Corey Johnson
were ardent supporters of
the jail plan, which was harshly
criticized for by anti-incarceration
activists, pro-law enforcement
groups, and residents living
In an effort to close the massive
island detention center off
the coast of northern Queens, the
four new facilities will be erected
by 2026 in all boroughs except
Staten Island, because there
aren’t enough jailed people from
The Rock to justify a separate facility
there, the city has argued.
In a separate vote, the council
banned any future detention facilities
from operating on Rikers
Island — which has become symbolic
of the nation’s comparatively
This newspaper is not responsible for typographical errors in ads beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2019 by Brooklyn Courier
Life LLC. The content of this newspaper is protected by Federal copyright law. This newspaper, its advertisements, articles, and photographs may not be reproduced, either in
whole or part, without permission in writing from the publisher except brief portions for purposes of review or commentary consistent with the law. Postmaster, send address
changes to Courier Life, One MetroTech Center North, Third Floor, Brooklyn, NY 11201.
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
offi cially a done deal.
Kings County jail will be built.
nearby the proposed jail sites.
high incarceration rate.
Brooklyn legislators were relatively
split on the issue, with
nine voting for and six against
the plan.
Among the Kings County
yes-voters were Stephen Levin
(D–Boerum Hill) — whose district
the Brooklyn lockup will be
built in — Majority Leader Laurie
Cumbo (D—Fort Greene),
Brad Lander (D—Park Slope),
Antonio Reynoso (D–Bushwick)
Robert Cornegy (D–Bedford-
Stuyvesant), Mathieu Eugene
(D–Prospect Lefferts Gardens),
Justin Brannan (D–Bay Ridge),
Farah Louis (D–East Flatbush),
and Mark Treyger (D–Coney Island).
The vote for building new jails
was not easy, but it will be the
best way to improve the city’s
system of incarceration, according
to Lander.
“I don’t like voting to build
jails — of course I would rather
spend that money on housing, on
schools, on community centers,”
the pol said. “It is the most likely
path to incarcerating the fewest
people in the least inhumane
way.”
Freshman legislator Farah
Louis said while she supported
the plan, she remained skeptical
and noted that much more
needed to be done to address the
city’s broken criminal justice
system, and that the administration
should also work to protect
law enforcement offi cers — such
as her brother who she said was
stabbed in the jail complex.
“This process — I believe –
will not solve or change the problem
but it will move the problem,”
Louis said. “My hope is…
that the administration will earmark
funds for communities that
provide for schools, recreation
centers, and a substantive restorative
justice plan to protect offi
cers like my brother who was
over four times at Rikers.”
Bushwick councilman Rafael
Espinal went further by voting
against the proposal because the
city wouldn’t match the massive
investment in the lockup with
money for the community.
“I cannot approve spending
$8.7 billion on new jails, without
a plan that would match that investment
dollar for dollar in atrisk
communities like the one I
represent,” Espinal said. “This
plan addresses how people are incarcerated,
but it doesn’t address
why people are incarcerated. We
can do better.”
Other Brooklyn lawmakers
opposed to the plan included
Chaim Deutsch (D—Sheepshead
Bay), Inez Barron (D—East New
York), Kalman Yeger (D—Borough
Park), Alicka Ampry-Samuel
(D–Brownsville), and Carlos
Menchaca (D–Sunset Park).
The demands for more community
investment echoed concerns
by members of the detention
facility’s local Community
Board 2, which in June cast a
purely advisory vote against the
plan as part of the city’s land use
review process, demanding more
funds go to addressing the causes
of incarceration, and toward
more affordable housing, education,
and alternative sentencing
programs.
The following month, Borough
President Eric Adams gave a
purely advisory vote for the land
use application , but asked for a
smaller facility with less beds,
while also laying out a slate of his
own wellness ideas to help jailed
people once they’re released, including
a vegan diet, yoga, childcare,
and job training programs.
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s offi ce
announced ahead of the vote that
the city would add $265 million of
investments to address the root
causes of incarceration, in addition
to $126 million already earmarked
for that.
The total of $391 million —
slightly less than 5 percent of
the overall budget for the project—
will go toward expanding
pretrial services and programs
to divert people away from incarceration
and the criminal justice
system, as well as helping people
in custody with programming
and reentry services.
The funds will also go to housing,
mental health services, reducing
violence, and better integrating
the new jails into their
surrounding communities.
The hours-long marathon
meeting was interrupted several
times by audience members applauding
for the plan and protesters
opposing it.
The vote stalled when protesters
from the group opposed to the
building of new jails, Now New
Jails, threw fl yers down from
the audience balcony that read
“If you cage our future, blood on
your hands,” before security staff
escorted them out.
Protestors gathered outside City Hall as Council voted 36-to-13 to close Rikers Island and build four new jails around the
city — including one in Boerum Hill. Photo by Kevin Duggan