As part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s $8.7 billion plan to close the contested Rikers Island jail complex and build four borough-based jails in its stead, the Brooklyn House of Detention, 275 Atlantic Avenue closed yesterday, according to the mayor’s office.
The Boerum Hill detention center’s 390 occupants moved to other jail facilities across the city. The majority of the detainees were transported to either the Manhattan Detention Complex, known colloquially as The Tombs, or the Bronx’s Vernon C. Bain Center.
Approximately 20 people who are over the age of 50 or require heightened security were moved to Rikers Island, according to the mayor’s office.
“Thanks to exceptional work by our staff, everyone has been safely moved out of the Brooklyn Detention Complex,” said Department of Corrections Commissioner Cynthia Brann in a statement.
The jail’s closing arrives as the crime rate continues to drop across the city. The New York Police Department estimates the jail population will fall from 7,000 to 3,300 by 2026, the lowest estimation in over a century.
Built in the 1950s, the jail closed in 2003 due to a declining inmate population. It was reopened in 2012 after renovations with 544 staff, according to Wikipedia.
“The new facility that will stand here will be built to reflect this city’s commitment to a smaller, safer, and fairer correctional system. Its design will reflect our values and will support modern and humane practices, improving the experience for people in custody and their families, and providing a safer work environment for the public servants who perform one of the city’s most challenging jobs,” Brann said.
The mayor intends to close Rikers by the end of 2026. The decision came after a city council vote greenlighted a plan to shutter the facility in October of last year.
The Department of Corrections reassigned most of the jail’s 535 employees to other locations, while a small staff will stay to operate the 24/7 bail window and oversee the final phases of decommission, according to a city spokesperson.
The bail window will remain staffed until a new location is constructed at nearby Kings County Criminal Court.
The City will solicit proposals for the construction of a new facility by mid-2021, with the aim to finish construction before Rikers Island’s closure in 2026, the spokesperson said.
