Queens vocal at latest boro jail hearing
Activists across city speak out at only City Council forum focused on plan to replace Rikers
An activist at a Sept. 5 City Hall hearing on borough-based jails. Photo: Mark Hallum/QNS
BY MARK HALLUM
The City Council chamber
was nearly filled to capacity
Thursday as lawmakers and
criminal justice advocates
spoke out on the mayor’s plan
to replace Rikers Island with
borough-based jails.
The Sept. 5 hearing was
the only chance for City
Council members on the
Land Use Committee and
the public to question officials
from the mayor’s office
on the proposal. Activists
lined the boundaries of City
Hall to make a statement in
favor of closing Rikers Island
without the boroughbased
facilities.
Councilman Rafael Salamanca
cornered Dana Kaplan,
deputy director of Close
Rikers and Justice Initiatives
(MOCJ), into sharing that the
decision as to where the jails
would be located preceded
any form of public outreach
and the decision was settled
upon by “the powers that be”
without community input.
Kaplan said closing Rikers
will reduce the number of
people in city detention from
11,000 to around 4,000.
“We’re talking about moving
from 11 active jails across
the city to four,” Kaplan said.
“The goals of this plan are
to build a city that is more
fair…This is an incredible
reduction in the number of
people in detention and
it’s historic.”
With chatter earlier in
2019 centered around the
possible implications of a jail
in Kew Gardens, Elizabeth
Glazer, Director of the Mayor’s
Office of Criminal Justice,
said it is rare for a crime
to be committed outside one
of DOC’s smaller facilities
because of the surveillance
and general lack of foot traffic
around jails.
Kaplan also added that
MOCJ had looked into how
a borough-based jail would
impact property values, a
primary concern for the
Queens Neighborhood Advisory
Committee, and they
determined that other jail
facilities have not been a
detriment to homeowners.
Kew Gardens currently
has a jail: the Queens House
of Detention. But this facility
is more or less only used
to stage detainees for court
appearances adjacent to the
jail. The Queens Detention
Complex, which was shuttered
years ago, would be
demolished and replaced by
a new, multi-story jail under
the mayor’s plan.
Cynthia Brann, commissioner
for the Department
of Corrections, said the jail
system needs to reflect the
agency’s “modern values
expressed commitment to
closing Rikers Island for the
age of facilities currently
in use.
A significant capital investment
would bring DOC’s
facilities in a state of good repair,
but Brann argued that
it would not resolve cultural
and logistical issues posed
by keeping detainees in one
centralized location.
Brann also pointed out
that the switch to a smaller
detention system would
have a negative impact on
DOC, many of whom will be
laid off.
She could not say for certain
exactly how many DOC
staff members would be facing
unemployment by 2026
but that the agency had held
open forums.
The Kew Gardens facility
will fall in line with the rest
of the other three facilities.
It will rise around 20
stories and house no more
than 1,150 detainees. It will
include community space at
the ground level and offer
better accommodations for
family visitation.
But the key difference
for the Queens facility will
be that it will be the only
facility to house women as
well with a maternity ward
and nursery.
Judge Jonathan Lippman’s
testimony in favor of
the borough-based approach
to detention was consistent
with the fact that he led the
commission brought into
existence by Melissa Mark-
Viverito during her term as
Council Speaker in 2017.
“There is no viable path
to closing Rikers that doesn’t
include borough-based facilities,
Lippman said. “Rejecting
the plan will mean
Rikers continues to exist for
generations to come. That
cannot be our legacy. This
is, in the end, a moral issue.
The Rikers Island jails disproportionately
impact black
and brown communities and
are an affront to humanity.
We must shutter Rikers and
once and for all remove this
stain from the soul of our
great city.”
Another contentious discussion
topic was regarding
the Rikers annex simply
known as “the barge.”
MOCJ officials said the
timeline for closing this is
in the envelope of the rest of
the close Rikers plan; to be
away from the island entirely
by 2026.
Reach reporter Mark Hallum
by email at mhallum@
schnepsmedia.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4564.
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