City Fishing for Jail Block Developers
Trying to soften the blow of sticking the newly revitalized community with another 700 to 800 inmates, the city is testing the waters with developers to gauge interest in erecting two 10-15 story residential buildings with ground floor retail on the back side of the jail along Boerum Place and State Street. (Boerum Place runs…
Trying to soften the blow of sticking the newly revitalized community with another 700 to 800 inmates, the city is testing the waters with developers to gauge interest in erecting two 10-15 story residential buildings with ground floor retail on the back side of the jail along Boerum Place and State Street. (Boerum Place runs along the foreground of this photo; State Street recedes back into the photo.) If the developers don’t bite, the city will just build something else. There’s no preference for residential, but we certainly wanted to test the market to see what the developers thought, said Jennifer K. Friedman, a vice president in the city’s Economic Development Corporation, which is soliciting the responses. “It’s absurd to take an obsolete building and sink more taxpayer money into it, said Sandy Balboza, president of the Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association. At this rate, Sandy may have to worry about a rival neighborhood group springing up: How does the Atlantic Avenue Detriment Association sound? Does anyone remember how much taxpayer money is going to be spent on this effort at making criminals’ lives more convenient? On the other hand, the neighborhood really could use some more places to get bail bonds. People are getting really tired of restaurants and clothing boutiques. They are so 2006.
City Tests Idea of Building Apartments by Brooklyn Jail [NY Times]
City Eyes Unlocking Brooklyn Jail [Metro]
Change in ‘Store’ at B’klyn Jail [NY Post]
Been visitying this site for three weeks.
You learn alot about a group of people
when you give them a voice. Anyway, I
wrote a novella that’s coming out in September, I know you will all recognize
your ideas as gold. Have you listened to yourselves, really have you.
6:17am, I am the poster who expressed concern for families of those awaiting trial. If you read putnam-denizen’s post, he listed economic and efficiency reasons, and said the concern for families was a separate issue. Many responders, however, provided no logical argument for MOVING a jail from where it existed other than the fact that it was currently in a place where lots of rich people lived.
However, CO No Mo provided very interesting perspective and ways not to EXPAND the jail (leaving the current building as is).
Putnam-denizen,
Why all the love for inmates and their “loved ones”? How about a little consideration for the law-abiding citizens that live in the area who are forced to shoulder the lifelong burden and daily inconveniences that the detention center brings?
“Gulags up near the Canadian border” staffed with “people who vote Republican”?
Wow, that’s some serious hyperbole (not to mention narrow-minded).
They are prisons for criminals CONVICTED of some pretty serious crimes–it’s not supposed to be a freakin’ country club.
I have worked for the NYCDOC for 20 years and very much look forward to retirement. I worked in the “Brooklyn House” in 1989 and 1990 at the height of the crack epidemic and the Brooklyn House became overcrowded. The majority of the inmates housed there were residents of BK and Staten Island and had BK and Richmond cases. The majority of the inmates in the NYCDOC today still hail from BK. I personally would not want to live next door to a jail and for that reason I did not purchase a home near a jail. Had I purchased a home near a jail, especially one undergoing renovation, I would have assumed that it would at some point reopen. With the city jail population on the rise and a renovated jail at its disposal, it would be a waste of my hard earned taxpayer money not to reopen it. Instead of the addition, another location could be scouted for another BK jail. We have now and have previously purchased barges on which we’ve housed inmates. The Brigg (BCF) on Flushing should not have been sold. That location was still close to the courts even though the inmates had to be put on a bus to get them there. The city is also negotiating the terms of another facility to be built in the Bronx. The jails on Rikers Island are old and falling apart. Dormitory and Sprungs were added to existing buildings to ease the overcrowding when I came on the job but these were only meant as temporary structures. Prisoner oversight agencies like the Board of Correction and the Legal Aid Society’s Prisoner’s Rights Project are constantly badgering the DOC when inmates rights are violated but many of the existing facilities just don’t have the capacity to meet targeted goals. For example, the DOC must house inmates who have been designated as “Heat Sensitive” in units with AC and all inmates must be provided with ice water when the indoor weather rises to a certain temperature. In dormitory housing there are 2 officers to watch 120 inmates. Inmates will wait for the officer to tour one area and go and jump another inmate in another area. Of course the officer won’t know who did what because many of the dorms are not well lit and have blind spots. Officers are assaulted daily due to poor jail design as well (architects never ask us what we need as far as design) The newer jails like “Manhattan House” were built with individual cells and although there are blind spots its easier to see what’s going on. Except when the inmates are inside of the cells. The newer jails don’t have bars on the cell doors so its hard to see if an inmate is asleep, missing or dead. The city jails have also become de facto mental patient wards and we need housing that facilitates officers observation of inmates under “suicide watch.” In the the Brooklyn House this was rarely a problem because of the bars. We also need a new punitive segregation unit that is safe for both the staff and the inmates. Officers in the current “Bing” get feces and urine thrown at them daily. As far as convenience if concerned, I have seem many a mother and grandmother arrive at Rikers Island and breakdown tears because of what their son or daughter has put them through. This usually happens when they have to get searched before their visit. I have also seen attorney’s become extremely irrate because they’ve had to wait for a “count to clear” before they could see their client. So yes convenience is a big issue. You don’t have to worry about CO’s taking up parking because unlike the NYPD we don’t get to park anywhere. The NYPD will ticket our cars if we did. Most of us just got on the train or bus even though we didn’t get to ride for free, unlike the NYPD. Most of us lived and had a vested interest in BK, also unlike the NYPD. I am fortunate enough to be eligible for retirement and will not be in the “Belly of the Beast” for much longer. I am also fortunate to have purchased my home in an area of BK where the property values have quintupled (is that a word) and there is no jail in my backyard.
11:14 – you obviously didn’t read the posts if you think another site makes sense. You are the one proposing a change, so you explain why moving a jailo away from the courts, lawyers and transportation makes sense. It the cumalitive inconvenience that I am talking about, not so theoretical family who has three sons in jail and needs to go to a jail every Wednesday, I really esent the idea that my thoughts are “half cocked”. Quite the contrary. Rikers is not (ogh ignorant one) where People serve “real tme” – ity is the current, inefficient location for detainees. And btw people wait from six months to two years for a trial, so we aren’t talking triavial time. Just ebcause you obviously don’t know any of this, doesn’t amake the concern trivial. Actually the only people serving “real time” have been sent to gulags up near the Canadian border where they provide emplyment for people who vote Republican. Families need to travel for a whole day to see their loved ones. Which is a whole nother discussion. The jail serves a public purpose, like a hosptial or a school. Live with it.
It’s the econ 101 factor + a small scent of corruption. Why build a new jail — when the old is perfectly situated b/w courts, attorneys {Court Street attorneys are a mere institution in these parts) and the old bail bond outposts. The City NEVER said anything about shutting down for good – so all who bought around the area are on notice about BHD re-opening. But the waste of $$ is appalling and only means one thing — absolute corruption.
Prisoners’ families, good grief. It’s a jail. They’re awaiting trial, not serving time. By that logic, we should move Rikers to Times Square so that those serving real time, not just waiting for trial, will always be easily accessible by public transport. You guys are ridiculous. Make a valid argument, not some half cocked concern for families’ convenience. Where not talking about a grocery store that will be visited regularly for a lifetime, rather a jail which, hopefully, will only have to be visited on a few rare occaisions by a family member. Once someone is found guilty, then it’s off to Rikers or wherever to serve time. Again, focus on a real concern, not some BS prisoner’s convenience argument. Unbelievable.
While the Navy Yard might not be the best spot if the critiques above are correct, I think the idea of a nonresidential area is a good one.
It isnt a prison – its a jail – there is a difference
prisons are important in a civilized society. A hundred million dollars is well spent on a good, humane, new prison that is architecturally integrated into its urban context and does not scream out “THIS IS A JAIL”.
Such a building would be feasible to build in conjunction with a hotel and residential building, with entrances on a differnt frontage than the jail intrance. This is the project we deserve and ought to demand in Downtown Brooklyn.