City reveals details on Mott Haven jail plan; met with protest
Local residents protested the new jail proposal in Mott Haven during CB 1’s meeting. Photo by Silvio Pacifi co
have been attached to the Mott
Haven facility.
Now, inmates will have
to travel to East 161st Street
courts for all legal appearances
according to the city.
Borough President Ruben
Diaz, Jr. and many other
Bronx politicians have argued
that placing a jail facility next
to the Bronx Hall of Justice on
161st Street was the appropriate
location for a new jail facility
when Rikers Island is expected
to close in 2027.
He and others have cited
the Lippman Report on criminal
justice’s fi ndings that
jails should be close to or connected
to civic centers, with
inmate commute listed as one
reason why.
Even though the Mott Haven
facility is only approximately
two miles way from
the civic center, any Bronxite
would be able to tell the mayor
that those few miles, via the
Bruckner Expressway and the
Major Deegan can take a half
TAKE ON EVERYTHING
NEW YORK CITY
HAS TO OFFER TODAY
BY ALEX MITCHELL
The tallest building
planned for the south Bronx
is a - jail, between 24 and 25
stories to be exact. The city
released new details and schematics
on its plan to replace
the Mott Haven NYPD tow
pound at 320 Concord Avenue
with a massive correctional
facility on Thursday, April 25.
With a new address, 745 E.
141st Street, the jail’s current
design plan includes a layout
of 1, 440 inmate beds with an
affordable housing complex
connected to the facility that
will have 31,000 feet of community
space on its ground
fl oor and below ground parking
for 575 vehicles, explained
the Mayor’s Offi ce of Criminal
Justice deputy director Dana
Kaplan.
Preliminary design renderings
of the jail include a
hypothetical coffee shop in the
lobby area as part of an effort
to ‘invite civic presence.’
Kaplan also said that there
is a way for the jail to “be integrated
into the neighborhood
in a way that’s not negative.”
Scratched from earlier site
designs was the inclusion of an
arraignment court that would
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hour at the very minimum
during most of the day.
Diaz’ preferred site would
come with another problem
Kaplan explained. If the city
were to build near the current
courthouses the facility would
have to be much taller since
the only available site is narrower
than the Mott Haven
parcel.
Given that Concourse Village,
which is located a few
blocks away from Diaz’ site,
is almost entirely comprised
of 20-plus storied towers, a
jail ediface would comform
more naturally to that neighborhood’s
landscape than it
would in a much fl atter Mott
Haven.
The soon to be open, massive
Union Crossing building
just a block down at 745 E.
141st Street is the tallest building,
at seven-stories, in that
part of Mott Haven.
When Kaplan and her
team presented the plan to
Community Board 1 it was
met with resounding opposition;
this meeting in particular
was literally fi lled
with protestors holding signs
against the jail planned for
their community.
Besides protest, there isn’t
much the opposition can do at
this time, though. The plan is
currently in a Uniform Land
Use Review Procedure that began
on Monday, March 25.
Once the site’s ULURP is
approved, the jail proposal
will go before the full City
Council for a fi nal vote, a process
that is still about seven
months off.
That deal is also contingent
on the long-awaited closure of
the Vernon C. Bain jail barge
in Hunts Point.
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