Readers sentence the jail expansion plan
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to
raze Atlantic Avenue’s House of
Detention and rebuild a larger incarceration
complex in its stead
stumbled when it failed to get
the approval from Community
Board 2 members by a hair-thin
margin at a raucous meeting on
May 8 (“Community Board 2 narrowly
votes not to approve mayor’s
House of D expansion,” by Kevin
Duggan, online May 9).
Members issued their purely
advisory vote with 17 to 16 voting
against their land use committee’s
previous conditional recommendation
to accept Hizzoner’s plan
to raze the Boerum Hill lockup
and replace it with a larger jail
as part of the city’s borough-based
jails plan.
Several board members said
they couldn’t vote for the scheme
due to the city’s continuallychanging
plans for the post-Rikers
jail’s size and population.
State legislators passed a
sweeping package of reforms on
April 1, which will end cash bail
and pretrial detention for almost
all misdemeanor and nonviolent
felony defendants, among other
reforms, and which will reduce
the amount of people awaiting
trial in jail because they can’t afford
bail.
Protesters — some of whom
said they were from No New Jails
NYC, the activist group opposed to
any new jails — packed the room
and shouted their opposition to
the mayor’s plan, demanding the
board reject the proposal.
Readers argued their opinions
online:
The board member voting against
the proposal to build a new jail by
grandstanding and claiming poor
treatment of minorities in jails is really
an apples and oranges argument
with one having nothing to do with
the other. t from Bath Beach
The people are still going to be in
prison — now the prison will just be
more crowded and further away.
Mabrina Woobles from Flatbush
If a modern jail is needed — not
the proposed tower — might help
with a little planning from Borough
Hall. The Criminal Court nextdoor is
90 years old...why not build replacements
for the HOD and CC together
elsewhere in Bklyn? Especially since
SI is sending their folks over.
There are much better civic uses
for these current locations...the
BHOD hasn’t made sense with all the
congestion it brings. Blogger Bill
COURIER L 40 IFE, MAY 17–23, 2019 PS
from Boerum Hill
The board member who voted
against the jail and stated the abuse
and mis treatment inside is true.
The reason a new jail is even begin
discussed is because of the treatment
Kalief Browder, and many others
who died because of no accountability.
So if this is a issue, then I
feel it should be addressed, and by
the way, the New York Times in 2017
mentioned “On average, Rikers Island
holds about 10,000 inmates
on a daily basis, with about 77,000
people cycling through in all each
year. Most of the inmates — about
85 percent — have not yet been convicted
of a crime; they are pretrial
detainees, either held on bail or remanded
to custody. The rest have
been convicted and are serving
short sentences. About 93 percent of
the inmate population is male. The
majority are African-Americans
and Latinos from low-income neighborhoods
in New York. The portion
of the jail population that has been
diagnosed with some sort of mental
health issue has ballooned in recent
years, rising to nearly 40 percent of
inmates.A Times investigation published
in July 2014 found that 129 inmates
were seriously injured, requiring
hospitalization, in an 11-month
span in 2013, after altercations with
correction offi cers. Guards were
found to have pressured inmates not
to seek medical help for these injuries
and threatened them with further
violence if they did.” ( New York
Times ). Gabriel from Clinton Hill
Everyone agrees that Rikers is a
hell hole and that it should be closed,
as it is unsalvageable. But then what?
Four mega lockups in every borough
but Staten Island? Bad plan.
A modern jail and no larger than
the building there now? But not a
mega jail. RIKERS was built to be a
safe humane rehabilitative facility.
How did that work out? Yes, we need
jails, smaller safer and effective. The
mentally ill should be treated, not
warehoused. The mayor’s plan is not
that either. They have one chance to
get this right for the next 50 years.
Sure, rebuild the HOD no taller than
it is now. Less than 875 beds.
Sid from Boerum Hill
I am a bit confused. The Brooklyn
House of Detention was located on
Atlantic Avenue since the 1950s. The
mayor is not adding a new jail, just
utilizing the space that already exists
(since people are up in arms and
want to close Rikers).
Where do they expect the prisoners
from Rikers to go? SMH
Mary from Bed-Stuy
Backroom antics
To the Editor,
Looks as though our Govern-
Mayor, Cuomo, is busy making back
room deals with the New Jersey governor,
in cutting New Jersey drivers
a little slack when it comes to the new
congestion pricing scheme. It’s funny
to hear that no one bothered to include
the new MTA Chairman and
President in any of these discussions
directly impacting the funding they
were supposed to receive.
Personally, I do not give a rat’s behind
as I never drive in the city anymore,
though, I do believe in equal
opportunity shafting of everyone entering
the emerald city. Brooklynites
get no break. Motorists from Staten
Island, Queens, and the Bronx have
to pay the full fare, so why not NJ? I
envision this grand plan, once implemented,
to be drilled with so many
exemption holes; the bill would look
like a slice of Swiss cheese.
Maybe this ridiculous plan should
be fl ushed altogether.
Robert W. Lobenstein
Sheepshead Bay
Fair bus fares
To the Editor,
The MTA offi cials don’t want to
concentrate on arresting fare beaters.
When was the last time that
these honchos rode on a bus or
train?
How many times have I seen high
school and intermediate school students
sneaking on from the back? As
soon as the bus discharges passengers,
there they are ready to go on,
and not paying their fares. Furthermore,
they become unruly on the
bus and take up seats which belong
to passengers who have paid but now
fi nd themselves having to stand during
their rides.
What solutions are offered? Don’t
give me that restorative discipline
approach. That’s a complete farce
and everyone knows it.
I have also witnessed both adults
and children getting on buses and
giving all sorts of sob stories to the
drivers to gain admittance. The bus
drivers fall for this nonsense and
you can see the smirks on the faces
of these fare beaters as they walk
down the aisle.
A solution would be to have police
not in uniform on buses and trains
ready to take appropriate action
against these parasites.
Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Jail reform blues
To the Editor,
Queens State Assemblyman David
Weprin introduced legislation in the
State Assembly to permit some prison
inmates who committed murder or
rape to be eligible for parole once
they reach age 55 and have served at
least 15 years of their sentence. The
same legislation was introduced by
Manhattan State Senator Brad Hoylman
in the State Senate.
This legislation, if passed by
both the State Assembly and Senate
and signed into law by Gov. Andrew
Cuomo, would permit the state prison
parole board to assess a convicted felon’s
potential risk to society as part
of its decision on the possible early
release of the inmate. Both Weprin
and Hoylman reference as justifi cation
that allowing these criminals to
be eligible for parole could save New
York State a billion dollars or more
over time.
Never shy around a microphone
or photo opportunity, Assemblyman
Weprin has yet to promote this legislation
at one of his standard Sunday
press conferences. You will not read
about it in one of his periodic newsletters
mailed to constituents at taxpayers
expense.
This ultra liberal “politically correct”
legislation compliments a similar
push to allow convicted felons the
right to vote while serving time in
prison. What’s next, reparations in
the form of taxpayers’ rebates to reimburse
ex-felons for lost income due
to time served in prison?
Larry Penner
Great Neck
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