HOD Re-Opens for Business
Yesterday, the Brooklyn House of Detention in Boerum Hill was once again processing perps, after a five-year hiatus courtesy of the Bloomberg administration, since they no longer needed extra beds for Rikers prisoners. True, crime is up in some areas, so maybe that’s why the administration has shifted, now lobbying for the construction a $450…
Yesterday, the Brooklyn House of Detention in Boerum Hill was once again processing perps, after a five-year hiatus courtesy of the Bloomberg administration, since they no longer needed extra beds for Rikers prisoners. True, crime is up in some areas, so maybe that’s why the administration has shifted, now lobbying for the construction a $450 million tower on top of building, on the corner of Atlantic and Smith (the NY Daily News says the reason is the renovation of the Brooklyn courthouse, slated to start in January). This will allow them to double its capacity, to 1,500 prisoners (some cells will be reduced at Rikers Island). Local politicians didn’t hesitate to condemn the move. Councilman David Yassky and state Senator-elect Daniel Squadron were among those calling it a “first step in a backdoor attempt to spend hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on a large new jail and radically shift city corrections policy to favor incarceration over rehabilitation for prisoners.”
Critics Howl as Jail Reopens Cells [NY Daily News] GMAP
Maybe they can put an elementary or high school on every other floor of the prison tower to kill two birds with one stone…could cut down on construction costs as well!
Right, double capacity to 1500 not 3000. That’s a relief at least.
Still it would be a mighty big facility right in the middle of a crowded, residential and shopping area. I could see a small facility here, say 400 or so inmates as part of a larger complex with residential and retail facing Atlantic Avenue. Smart people need to balance out the needs of the courts, the inmates, and the residents. You should not just steam-roller through something that is neither welcome not really rational from a land-use point of view. Above all, the existig building should be demolished. It is a hideous and outdated facility.
You lot would move to Greenpoint and then start complaining that the city should close the sewage works becuase it smells.
Sam — Where’s the 3000 number coming from? I think the article says they are looking to expand from 759 to about 1,500 inmates, and that’s what I’ve always heard for the last five years (when I first heard about the expandsion proposal).
Anyway, you do need somewhere for people awaiting trial to stay, to meet with attorneys and especially to keep in contact with their families. Logic is that it’s ebst oto do that seomwhere that is convenient for all conecerned. The Tombs in Manhattan are not a problem (with about 800 or 900 beds, I think) despite being located next to both Chinatown and Tribeca, and it’s not faulty logic to have it there, or for the Brooklyn House of Detention to be right next to criminal court in BH. Rather, it makes a lot of sense to avoid constant pre-trial detention transfers that can be easily screwed up for lack of the right form being filled out, causing additional delays.
How is crime up ?
Mr.B do you just make up your own stats?
murders are up 5% wow.
Rapes are up 1.1% wow
Robbery up 1% wow
Felony assault down -8%
Burglary down -6.8%
Gr.Larceny down -2.3%
G.L.A down -4.5%
Total crime down -3.46%
you’re right, pete–some reports say crime is down. others say crime was up in south brooklyn. http://bstoner.wpengine.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/10/north_brooklyn_1.php. several articles described the administration’s attitude/actions as a reversal. hope that helps.
Why do prisoners have to be the near the courthouse unless their trials or appeals are ongoing? If you are serving five years for whatever, you do not have to be near the courthouse. The article makes sense, there are a number of inmates, say 50 to 120, that need to be in the immediate vicinity of the courhouse on any given day. There is no reason on earth for the vast majority, whose cases will not be heard for weeks or months or who have already been found guilty, to be near the courthouse. This is faulty logic on the part of the HOD boosters. You need a holding facility near the courts, you do not need a 3000-inmate HOD near the courts.
So much city money has been wasted on this site. I think their last renovation ran into the tens of millions. It has been off the property tax rolls for years, and unused. Now, the City has wasted a chance to sell it at a massive profit.
“True, crime is up, so maybe that’s why the administration has shifted, now lobbying for the construction a $450 million tower on top of building”
– Um, do want to back up that assertion with some real evidence (that crime is up)?- which would be stats not anecdotal conjecture from headlines. And not just some types of crime in some precincts but overall.
Also – administration was behind this from 1st announcement . I don’t see any ‘shifting’.