Group rallies to stop borough-based jail in Kew Gardens
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Mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa joined a rally against the building of the Kew Gardens jail facility on Friday, Aug. 6, 2021. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
By Jacob Kaye
Just because it’s being built, doesn’t mean it has to be finished.
That was the message from a group of around 25 public officials, candidates for office and community members gathered in Kew Gardens Friday, who demand the city stop its plan to build a jail in the neighborhood.
Led by City Councilmember Robert Holden, mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa and former City Council candidate Donghui Zang, the group said Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to close Rikers Island and build four new community jails throughout the city is flawed.
The Kew Gardens facility will cost too much, it will spread violence throughout the neighborhood and the money being used to build it could be better used for other projects aimed at helping New York recover from the pandemic, they claimed.
“Bottom line is there's no money for community jails – there is no money,” said Sliwa, who, as the founder of the Guardian Angels, has centered his mayoral campaign around public safety.
The projected cost of the borough-based jail program – which would see smaller jails built in Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Kew Gardens – is around $8.3 billion.
Instead, he said the money should go toward making correctional officers whole. Last month, the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association sued the city and the Department of Correction over dangerous work conditions and for forcing officers to work triple shifts without any prior notice.
“I don't see any of the people at City Hall coming to the aid of the correctional officers who were told you must work a double shift, you must work a triple shift,” he said. “How about straightening out the employment prospects for correctional officers so they can work a decent eight hour shift?”
City Councilmember Robert Holden, who represents Middle Village, Ridgewood, Maspeth and Glendale, argued that the design of the Kew Gardens jail facility was flawed. The proposed 19-story facility will be outfitted to accommodate 886 incarcerated people.
Holden said that in case of a fire, the skyscraper design would be dangerous for those inside.
“Let's not build a Kew Gardens jail, let's not build borough based jails – let's rebuild Rikers,” Holden said. “There's no reason to close Rikers Island, keep it open, again, reconstruct it.”
Several candidates for City Council District 29, which the jail would be built in, across the political spectrum spoke out against the facility.
Losing Democratic candidates Donghui Zang and Edwin Wong spoke out against the jail Friday, as did Michael Conigliaro, who’s currently running for the district on the Republican Party line and will face off against Democratic primary winner Lynn Schulman in November.
All four candidates, including Schulman, oppose the jail.
“The bottom line here today is that we're here together as Republicans and Democrats because this isn't a political issue, this is a community issue,” Conigliaro said. “We don't need a community based jail here, there are other ideas we can come up with as to what could go in this location and together as a community, we can do something that would work for everyone.”
Schulman directed the Eagle to her campaign website when contacted for comment Friday.
“I do not support a jail in Kew Gardens,” Schulman’s website reads. “I believe our community should have a say in whatever happens in our district. The criminal justice system is in a state of crisis. I understand that people are fearful and angry. Jails like Rikers Island should never happen again. I support community-based restorative justice.”
Construction began on the jail facility in June. The city has begun the process of building a parking garage and community facility, both of which will be adjacent to the jail.
Construction on the carceral facility is expected to begin in 2023 and be completed by 2027, the year Rikers Island is to be closed.
Earlier this month, the Department of Correction handed over the James A. Thomas Center on Rikers Island to the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. It was the first Rikers facility to leave DOC custody since the borough-based jail program was put into effect.
