City shrinks size of four proposed jails, including Kew Gardens detention tower
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The proposed jail sizes across the city decreased by an average of 90 feet based on several factors. PHOTO BY THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.
By David Brand and Noah Goldberg
The City Council announced steep reductions in the heights of four proposed detention towers on Tuesday, just two days ahead of a full vote on the unprecedented land use plan to build a jail in every borough but Staten Island.
The redesign represents what is likely the final move by City Council Speaker Corey Johnson to shore up majority support in the council leading up to a Thursday vote on a controversial land use measure years in the making.
The city plans to open the four borough-based jails as part of its goal to shutter the violence-plagued jail complex at Rikers Island by 2026. The measure would reduce the number of functioning jails in the city from 11 to four.
The proposed jail sizes across the city decreased by an average of 90 feet based on several factors — including a revised jail population estimate. The city expects to detain 3,300 people by 2026, the year the new jails are scheduled to open, as state criminal justice reforms divert people from detention into alternative to incarceration programs. When the first blueprints for the jails were drawn up, the city expected to house 5,000 detainees.
A little more than 7,000 people are currently detained in city jails on average each night.
A proposed jail in Kew Gardens jail would now rise 195 feet instead of 270 feet under the city’s plan. The 75-foot height reduction may make the proposal more palatable for local opponents, who have criticized a plan to build a large tower they say does not conform to the residential character of the area. The move could also provide political cover for Councilmember Karen Koslowitz, who called the 270-foot proposal “absolutely unacceptable” at a Council hearing on Sept. 5.
“The last several months I have been adamant that the proposed size of the borough based jail in Kew Gardens needed to be significantly reduced,” Koslowitz said in a statement Tuesday. “As a result of difficult negotiations with the Administration, I am pleased to have reduced the height of the facility by close to 100 feet, and cut the number of beds that the facility will house nearly in half.”
The Eagle first reported on the likely size reductions last month based on conversations with several people familiar with the deal-making.
Manhattan’s proposed facility saw the steepest height decrease, dropping from 450 feet to 295 feet, the same height as the proposed Brooklyn lockup.
“From the start, one of my top priorities was to achieve a serious reduction of the height of the mayor’s proposed jail at 124/125 White Street,” said Councilmember Margaret Chin in a statement. “This goal was one that many community members shared and echoed throughout the land use review process.”
The council said reducing the size of the proposed facilities would be possible because of the relocation of about 250 beds from the jails into hospitals, in order to treat people with serious mental illness in a more clinical environment.
The proposed jail in Boerum Hill will now rise 295 feet as opposed to 395 feet. The original proposal by the city had the proposed structure rising over 400 feet. Councilmember Stephen Levin, who represents the affected area, has long criticized the original proposal for planning for too large a structure.
“I fully expect we’ll be working towards seeing a reduction in the size,” Levin told the Eagle in July.
The current Brooklyn Detention Complex is 170 feet tall.
“From the outset of this plan, I have said the proposed Brooklyn site was simply too big and out of context with the scale of the neighborhood. Through comprehensive policy reform and a commitment to decarceration and diversion programs, the projected jail population has been significantly reduced, and subsequently so has the size of the building,” Levin said.
The proposed Bronx jail will rise 195 feet as opposed to 245 feet. The city plans to build the Bronx facility on the site of an NYPD tow pound in Mott Haven, the only one of the four jails that will not be located adjacent to a criminal courthouse.
Ayala said the height reductions are a “direct response” to community concerns.
“In the Bronx, height will be reduced by 50 feet, resulting in a much smaller facility than originally planned," Ayala said. "With reduced heights and a projected jail population of 3,300 by 2026, the borough-based jail plan will shrink our criminal justice system and puts us on the path to decarceration."
Johnson said advocacy by the four affected councilmembers contributed to the smaller scale of each jail.
“People said these buildings were too large for their neighborhoods, and they listened and fought for changes.”
The land use measure — the first to incorporate multiple sites across four boroughs — requires a 26-vote majority to pass the city council. Legislators seem to be leaning toward supporting the plan, as the Eagle reported last month. At least 17 councilmembers confirmed they plan to voting yes while 10 have said they oppose the plan. Another 17 councilmembers said they were undecided. The remaining seven did not respond to requests for comment.
Last week, the council voted in favor of a proposal that would forever ban jails at Rikers Island — the stated intent of the jails plan, but a key provision that was never actually incorporated into the land use application. Some councilmembers, including Donovan Richards in an op-ed for the Eagle, said the map change demonstrates a commitment to decarceration and safer, smaller jails.
Nevertheless, progressive opponents of the jail plan say size reductions do not address the culture of violence and dehumanization in the city jail system, Advocates from the No New Jails coalition and their allies have called on the city to take the billions of dollars earmarked for the jails and invest it in social services, education and housing in the low-income communities of color most impacted by overpolicing and incarceration.
