City’s jail pop projected to reach historic lows
BY GABE HERMAN
The city projects its jail population will reach
historic lows by 2026 after revising its fi gures
from 4,000 down to 3,300, Mayor Bill de Blasio
and Council Speaker Corey Johnson announced
today.
The new lower estimate would mark the city’s lowest
jail population in a century and be the lowest jail
population rate among large cities nationwide, offi -
cials said.
The new fi gure will factor into the city’s plans for
building four smaller, borough-based jails to replace
the one on Rikers Island. Last week, the City Council
offi cially banned Rikers Island from housing detainees
after 2026. Based on the new estimates, each borough
based jail would hold fewer than 1,000 people,
which is less than half the current population at Rikers
Island.
“Mass incarceration did not begin in New York
City, but it will end here,” said Mayor de Blasio when
the announcement was made. “With the lowest rate
of incarceration of any major city, we are proving you
don’t need to arrest your way to safety. New York is
telling a different story, one where we can keep fathers
at home and kids in schools and still be the safest
big city in America.”
“Just a few years ago, the Lippman Commission’s
projection of a 5,000 average daily population was
considered by many to be overly optimistic,” Speaker
Johnson said. “To now reach 3,300 is an extraordinary
achievement, and the culmination of years of
hard work to move away from the failed policies of
FILE PHOTO
An aerial view of detention centers on Rikers
Island, which will no longer be used for jails
starting in 2026 thanks to a resolution passed
by the City Council Land Use Committee.
mass incarceration. But we will not rest. We will keep
fi ghting to bring this number down even further. New
York City should be a model of progressive criminal
justice reform nationwide.”
The new estimate is based on city offi cials analyzing
the impact of recent reform measures, including
the Supervised Release diversion program. That program
will expand to reduce the number of pretrial
detainees, who represent a majority of people incarcerated
in city jails. Other changes have included bail
reform and other state measures aimed at lowering
pretrial detainees.
“The new city jail population estimate of 3,300
by 2026 refl ects a new model of safety being built
in New York City in which police, prosecutors and
courts have lightened the touch of the criminal justice
system while crime has continued to drop,” said
Liz Glazer, director of the Mayor’s Offi ce of Criminal
Justice.
Glazer cited the Supervised Release program in
lowering the number of incarcerated people.
“Our robust reentry services such as Jails to Jobs
help people from coming back,” Glazer added. “And
our community-based violence interruption programs,
such as the Crisis Management System, helps
people steer clear of the justice system entirely. This
foundation of reform, built over the last fi ve years,
will provide current and future generations of New
Yorkers with an even smaller, safer, fairer justice system.”
“Getting here has not been easy,” said Donna Hylton,
Senior Justice Advisor at Brooklyn’s Katal Center
for Health, Equity, and Justice. “Directly impacted
advocates, activists and organizers have been working
tirelessly with local, City and State legislators to
not only decarcerate our city but build communities
as well. I applaud the New York City Council and
the mayor for working alongside us to shut down the
inhumane and cruel penal colony that is Rikers Island.”
The City Council is scheduled to vote Oct. 17 on
replacing the Rikers Island facility with the four new
borough-based jails.
City seeks input on NYCHA capital needs in Chelsea
BY GABE HERMAN
Chelsea public housing residents
protested this spring after the
mayor proposed a plan that
would let private developers build on
public land as a way to raise needed
funds for the NYCHA developments.
Now, before the plan goes any further,
elected offi cials have announced
a working group that will include local
residents and housing advocates to gain
more community input on Chelsea’s
NYCHA capital needs.
The Chelsea NYCHA complexes —
Fulton Houses, Elliot-Chelsea and Chelsea
Addition — need $344 million for
repairs and upgrades to prevent further
deterioration, according to the city.
The de Blasio proposal announced
in April included demolishing two
36-unit buildings and building three
new mixed-income buildings at Fulton
Houses. Local residents protested the
idea of turning some of the land over to
a private developer and there were also
fears of displacement.
The mayor’s proposal was part of
a plan to raise funds for NYCHA developments
by allowing mixed-income
housing on NYCHA lands, with all of
the proceeds then going to the capital
needs of the nearby developments.
Protests in Chelsea after the proposal’s
Chelsea’s Fulton Houses includes 11 buildings located between Ninth
and 10th Aves., stretching from 16th to 19th Streets.
announcement also centered
around the idea that the plan was being
imposed by the city without any community
input.
Local offi cials praised the formation
of the working group, which will convene
for 10 weeks, as a way for local
residents to have a say in what needs
to be addressed at the Chelsea NYCHA
PHOTO BY GABE HERMAN
developments.
The group will include local NYCHA
residents, several housing advocate
groups, local elected offi cials, members
of Community Board 4, city offi cials
from NYCHA and the Deputy Mayor for
Housing and Economic Development.
“My neighbors who live in Fulton
and Elliot-Chelsea Houses deserve better
than the current state of their buildings
and we all agree that we must act
to improve their homes and their lives,”
said Speaker Corey Johnson, who represents
Chelsea.
Offi cials said the working group will
address NYCHA’s funding crisis and
explore all options for raising money
for Chelsea’s developments, while also
discussing tenant protections.
“We look forward to joining a productive
conversation about how NYCHA
can best improve quality of life
for the residents of the Fulton Houses,
Chelsea-Elliot Houses, and Chelsea Addition,”
said Andrew Rein, president of
the nonprofi t Citizens Budget Commission.
“Finding a timely solution to addressing
the developments’ signifi cant
capital needs by improving management
and better utilizing NYCHA’s
assets will benefi t thousands of public
housing tenants and ensure that their
deeply affordable housing units will be
preserved for future generations.”
“The Fulton Tenant Association is
pleased that the Mayor’s Offi ce and all
other elected offi cials are giving the opportunity
to the residents to be heard
through this working group,” said
Miguel Acevedo, president of the Fulton
Houses Tenant Association.
The working group is scheduled to
launch later in October, offi cials said.
8 October 17, 2019 Schneps Media