City Council approves plan to close prisons on
Rikers Island and build borough-based jails
BY BILL PARRY
A new path forward for
the city’s criminal justice
system was forged last week
when the full City Council
voted in favor of the de Blasio
administration’s plan
to close the notorious jail
complex on Rikers Island
and build four new boroughbased
detention facilities.
The 36-to-13 vote passing
the $8.7 billion land use
plan came after Mayor Bill
de Blasio and Speaker Corey
Johnson reached a deal on a
wide-range of community investments
totaling $391 million,
including $126 million
that was previously planned
and $265 million in new programming
that will address
the root causes of incarceration
that was announced for
the first time just prior to
the vote.
“When we pledged to
close Rikers Island, we made
a promise to transform a
broken criminal justice system
and give back to communities
that have experienced
the effects of mass incarceration
firsthand,” de Blasio
said. “By investing in neighborhoods
and putting people
on the path to success, we
are making good and getting
closer to a day when
we’re the fairest, big city in
America.”
To get to this point, the
number of New Yorkers entering
jail has declined by
nearly half in the past six
years.
The jail population has
declined from 11,000 in 2014
to about 7,000 today, and is
projected to be approximately
3,300 by 2026.
“For too long, the city’s
answer to every societal
problem was to throw people
in jail. Because of that, we
lost generations to mass incarceration,
mostly young
men of color,” Johnson said.
“These investments are at
the heart of our plan to close
Rikers.”
The plan adds over $71
million for alternatives to
detention and incarceration
and reforms to the Department
of Correction, building
on $126 million in annual investments
to reduce justice
involvement, support communities,
and make our justice
system smaller.
The City Council approved the plan to close the prisons on Rikers Island and replace them with borough-based facilities last week.
City Councilwoman Karen
Koslowitz said she will
sleep well at night with her
vote in favor of the plan
which will build a smaller
prison than was originally
planned in her district at the
old Queens Detention Complex
in Kew Gardens.
“I am very proud of the
community investments
that I have secured from the
administration,” Koslowitz
said. “As a result of these
investments our seniors will
receive the services they deserve,
are children will be
better equipped to succeed
and the community overall
will benefit. Moving forward
it will be my imperative that
these investments will be
implemented in a timely and
responsible manner.”
Such investments affecting
the borough includes
updates to the Queens Community
House on Kew Gardens
Road and expansion of
the Cure Violence programming
at the 113th Precinct in
southeast Queens.
Another key part of the
agreement addressed parking
in Kew Gardens where
the city will create 676 public
parking spaces, and
increase of 150 above the
initial design and 605 additional
parking spaces so Department
of Correction personnel
will not utilize public
parking.
“Closing Rikers Island is
one of the most important
votes this council has ever
taken, but these critical investment
in restoring and
healing our communities
are the most effective part
of the plan that will drastically
reduce our incarcerated
population by providing
opportunities for at-risk New
Yorkers,” City Councilman
Donovan Richards said. “Locally,
increased investment
in the Crisis Management
System in southeast Queens
and a community justice center
in Rockaway will help divert
New Yorkers away from
the criminal justice system
before they get caught in a
system for the rest of their
life. The work doesn’t end
today, since we will have to
hold this administration and
the next accountable to the
progress that must be made
over the next few years until
Rikers in shutdown forever.”
The deal for investment
in community-based resources
was applauded by
The Fortune Society, the
Long Island City-based nonprofit
that helps formerly
incarcerated people re-enter
society.
“For too long, and at great
QNS/File
human and financial cost,
our jails have warehoused
people on minor offenses
whose unmet needs of homelessness
and untreated mental
illness could have been
addressed while they were
at liberty in the community
and before they ever became
involved in the criminal
justice system,” Fortune
Society President and CEO
JoAnne Page said. “”With
these key investments in
housing, mental health services,
gun violence prevention
and youth services,
these vulnerable New Yorkers
can get the help they so
desperately need, while we
continue to build a safer and
more just city.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry
by e-mail at bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone
at (718) 260–4538.
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