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08-20-2002, 09:49 AM
City to Close Jail In Kew Gardens
By William Murphy
STAFF WRITER
August 17, 2002
The city will shut down its only Queens jail within the next month to save money and because the citywide inmate population is dropping, the Department of Correction said Friday.
The department will move more than 300 prisoners out of the facility behind the Kew Gardens courthouse on Queens Boulevard, department spokesman Tom Antenen said.
The prisoners will be moved to several other facilities in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx.
He said he knew of no plans to convert the facility for use by the homeless, as the city is attempting to do with the Bronx House of Detention.
The Prisoners' Rights Project of the Legal Aid Society said the closing made no sense because the department has argued in court papers that it needs to continue keeping prisoners in dormitory-type settings because of a lack of space.
Antenen said the action would account for about 50 percent of the $65 million the department must cut under orders from Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The move also comes as the department is building a new central punitive segregation unit on Rikers Island at a cost of $120 million, according to John Boston, head of the Prisoners' Rights Project.
"There are much better ways to save money than closing down the Queens House of Detention," said Boston, who has criticized the harsh conditions at the old punitive segregation unit on Rikers Island. "Having a facility close to the courts is efficient for the administration of justice."
Antenen said the department now has 14,000 prisoners in its system on any given day, down sharply from more than 22,000 a decade ago.
He said the population had remained high during the early 1990s as the administration of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani pursued a tough policy on quality-of-life crimes. The inmate population then dropped in Giuliani's second term, he said, as crime plunged both in the city and nationwide.
The head of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, Norman Seabrook, said he had no objection to the closing and that none of his officers would lose their jobs; most were being reassigned.
Antenen said a skeleton staff would remain at the Queens facility to keep it functional in case it was needed again. In addition, some correction officers will be needed on days when court is in session to process prisoners.
Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.
By William Murphy
STAFF WRITER
August 17, 2002
The city will shut down its only Queens jail within the next month to save money and because the citywide inmate population is dropping, the Department of Correction said Friday.
The department will move more than 300 prisoners out of the facility behind the Kew Gardens courthouse on Queens Boulevard, department spokesman Tom Antenen said.
The prisoners will be moved to several other facilities in Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx.
He said he knew of no plans to convert the facility for use by the homeless, as the city is attempting to do with the Bronx House of Detention.
The Prisoners' Rights Project of the Legal Aid Society said the closing made no sense because the department has argued in court papers that it needs to continue keeping prisoners in dormitory-type settings because of a lack of space.
Antenen said the action would account for about 50 percent of the $65 million the department must cut under orders from Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
The move also comes as the department is building a new central punitive segregation unit on Rikers Island at a cost of $120 million, according to John Boston, head of the Prisoners' Rights Project.
"There are much better ways to save money than closing down the Queens House of Detention," said Boston, who has criticized the harsh conditions at the old punitive segregation unit on Rikers Island. "Having a facility close to the courts is efficient for the administration of justice."
Antenen said the department now has 14,000 prisoners in its system on any given day, down sharply from more than 22,000 a decade ago.
He said the population had remained high during the early 1990s as the administration of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani pursued a tough policy on quality-of-life crimes. The inmate population then dropped in Giuliani's second term, he said, as crime plunged both in the city and nationwide.
The head of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association, Norman Seabrook, said he had no objection to the closing and that none of his officers would lose their jobs; most were being reassigned.
Antenen said a skeleton staff would remain at the Queens facility to keep it functional in case it was needed again. In addition, some correction officers will be needed on days when court is in session to process prisoners.
Copyright © 2002, Newsday, Inc.