The Department of Correction is pursuing a comprehensive, city-wide plan for the future of the New York City jail system, which houses some 14,000 individuals on an average day--most of them detainees held on Rikers Island near LaGuardia Airport in Queens while their cases are resolved.

Commissioner Martin Horn said the plan would create a city jail system "that is better for public safety, better for justice and better for inmates, their families and their prospects for successfully reentering the community and not returning to jail." 

The plan will:

• reduce the overall capacity of the city's jail system from 20,800 inmate beds (as of July, 2004, when the plan was first undertaken) to 18,700 beds, a reduction of 2,100 beds and a capacity sufficient to accommodate future inmate population increases. 
  
  
• reduce the inmate population of Rikers Island by 4,000--a change that has been sought by criminal justice advocates for more than 20 years. 
  
  
• place inmates in jails closer to their communities, families, attorneys and support services--which will improve their chances of not returning to jail.
  
  
• meet the Department's mission to house both detained and sentenced individuals humanely and safely in well-designed, modern jail facilities.

Under the plan, the Department:

• would close Rikers Island facilities that have exceeded their intended life spans and are deteriorating.
  
  
• would reopen and expand the Brooklyn House of Detention to accommodate 1,479 Brooklyn inmates awaiting trial or disposition of their cases.

The city jail system already includes the Manhattan Detention Complex in the lower Manhattan community and the Vernon C. Bain Center, a jail barge located in the Bronx. The plan would place all female inmates--as well as the Rikers Island nursery for infants born in jail--in a borough facility.

Commissioner Horn said locating jails nearer inmates' communities was in concert with the Department's recent efforts to significantly increase "discharge planning" programs which connect inmates to employment, housing and other critical needs when they reenter the community.

"Nearly three-quarters of our inmates are released from Rikers Island directly to the communities in which they live," Commissioner Horn said.  "Last year, 27% of our discharges were released to the Bronx and 33% to Brooklyn.  No one knows better than the families of our inmates how difficult it is to get to Rikers Island for a visit.  And no one knows better than our incarcerated young people just how important it is to stay in touch with supportive family groups, or to arrange housing, employment and counseling that can help them stay out of jail once they are discharged.   Housing inmates in jails in the boroughs will bring our inmates closer to their families and to the organizations and support systems that can help them reenter the community, get their lives back together and not be jailed again."

Recognition of the shortcomings of Rikers Island as the primary location of the City's pre-trial detainees is long-standing.   In a November, 1979 report, the City Council's Committee on Public Safety stated, "The Committee fully agrees that it is desirable to decentralize the City detention facilities and that Rikers Island is an inadequate facility in which to house a population of pre-trial detainees." 

A year later, the Correction Association of New York issued a report on the City's correctional facilities plan and made the following points:  "Persons awaiting trial on pending criminal charges should not be housed on Rikers Island...Rikers' location and inaccessibility add to the trauma and isolation experienced by recently arrested persons and make it unsuitable for a population that makes frequent court appearances and requires regular consultations with lawyers and legal assistance."

The report continued, "For detainees at Rikers, even a 10-minute court appearance in one of the boroughs becomes a 12 to 18-hour ordeal involving many hours in uncomfortable and unsanitary holding pens...Rikers' location greatly reduces the ability of lawyers to consult with defendants.  Some of the detainees we spoke to had never met with their lawyers at Rikers and were unable to discuss their cases...A visitor must spend over three hours traveling to and from Rikers."

For many of the same reasons, the city's Board of Correction, which oversees operation of the City's jails, and the Bar Association of the City of New York have also issued reports on Rikers Island and rendered opinions that is not suitable for detention.

Following are key questions and answers regarding the community jail plan.

There are many reasons:

1) Rikers is too remote from the rest of the city and its courts.

• The NYC jail system is primarily a detention system...not a prison system.  More than 75% of its inmates are being detained awaiting resolution of their cases.  Every day, more than 1,500 inmates are transported from Rikers Island to court appearances in the courts of all five boroughs.  Housing inmates in jails near and adjacent to county courts will improve security and safety, reduce gas consumption and vehicle emissions resulting from inmate transport and make it easier for families.
  
  
• Every day, more than 1,200 visitors--family members, attorneys and the staffs of support organizations that need to be in contact with inmates--travel to Rikers Island.  Travel times are onerous--it can take 90 minutes on three trains and two buses from some points in the Bronx to Rikers Island.   As stated above, research indicates that inmates have a better chance of not being arrested and incarcerated again when they can keep in contact with family, attorneys and community organizations than can help them after they are discharged.
  
  
• Housing inmates on an island separate from the rest of the community isolates and stigmatizes those who are jailed there.
  
  
• In 1980, the Correctional Association of New York wrote "Persons awaiting trial on pending criminal charges should not be housed on Rikers Island...Rikers Island's location and inaccessibility add to the trauma and isolation experienced by recently arrested persons and make it unsuitable for a population that makes frequent court appearances and requires regular consultations with lawyers..."

2) The Rikers Island infrastructure is unreliable.

• Some 80 barracks-type housing areas, built more than 20 years ago when the inmate population was at its peak, are at the end of their useable life spans and should be replaced with safe, modern, well-designed new jail space.   In fact, the Department of Correction is even under court order to tear down some of these housing units.
  
  
• Much of Rikers Island is built on landfill and is settling; shifting soil causes frequent damage to water and sewer lines and other infrastructure, disrupting jail operations.
  
  
• Rikers Island's only connection to the mainland is a narrow two-lane bridge to East Elmhurst, Queens.  A natural or manmade disaster affecting the bridge could isolate most of the inmate population and bring the city's criminal court system to a halt and evacuation of the island would be extremely difficult.
  
  
• Because of building height restrictions in the LaGuardia Airport area, jails designed for maximum efficiency cannot be built on Rikers Island.
  

• To reduce overdependence on Rikers Island, replace old facilities there, and to house inmates nearer their courts in the Bronx. 
  
  
• Bronx inmates make up 22% of all admissions to city jails and 27% of all discharges.
  
  
• Transportation between Rikers Island and the Bronx court is difficult.  Last year, more than 63,000 inmates were delivered to Bronx Courts from Rikers Island.  More efficient transport from a Bronx jail to Bronx courts would cut gas consumption, traffic congestion and pollution.
  
  
• Incarcerated individuals will benefit from better access to visitors including family, attorneys and supportive community organizations.  Family involvement and discharge planning can help reduce recidivism among former inmates.  Most of the inmates released to the Bronx last year lived within three miles of the site proposed for a new Bronx jail.

• A Brooklyn jail would also reduce dependence on Rikers Island and would also house detained inmates awaiting trial much closer to the courts where their cases are to be resolved.
  
  
• Brooklyn inmates make up 26% of all city jail admissions and 33% of discharges.
  
  
• In 2005, more than 73,000 inmates were delivered from Rikers Island to Brooklyn, so a nearby jail would reduce traffic congestion and pollution and also ensure security during transporting of prisoners.
  
  
• In Brooklyn, the existing Brooklyn House of Detention would be reopened and expanded.  An expanded facility provides operational efficiency, lowering jail costs.
  
  
• The downtown Brooklyn site provides an opportunity for mixed uses, possibly including retail and office space, furthering neighborhood development.

• Currently, 87% of all jail inmates are housed on Rikers Island, which is accessible only from Queens.  With completion of the plan, including new borough jails, Rikers Island would hold about 72% of all city inmates, the Brooklyn jail would house 8%, the existing and new Bronx jails would house 16% and the Manhattan Detention Complex 5%.

Discharge planning is the counseling that incarcerated individuals receive prior to their being released from jail, either at the completion of a sentence or upon their case being resolved in court.  People leaving jail and returning to the community need to be prepared (and often assisted) in finding proper housing and employment.  Without such basic supports, they are likely to be re-arrested and returned to jail and perhaps prison for a longer term.  A large percentage of NYC jail inmates also have problems of drug and alcohol abuse.  Discharge planning counselors--usually working for community-based non-profit organizations--can provide the counseling and support inmates need to avoid drugs and their legal and health consequences, thus helping to reduce recidivism.

One very important hurdle to such support is the distance of Rikers Island and its inmates from these important community services, since many of these service organizations cannot afford to post staff or frequently travel to Rikers Island to assist clients prior to discharge.

The City currently spends more than $10 million on discharge planning services--more than any other municipal jail system in the nation, and preliminary results show that such services can reduce recidivism.  Borough jails and their enhanced access to programs will help the Department provide such services to more inmates.

Most organizations that work with incarcerated persons recognize the strong advantages of reducing the capacity of Rikers Island and housing more jail detainees in community-based jails.  These include the Correctional Association, Fortune Society, the Women's Prison Association and many of the local New York City-based non-profit organizations that assist and counsel inmates and formerly-incarcerated individuals.

• Work is already underway to demolish outdated barracks facilities on Rikers Island.  In fact, buildings with a capacity totaling about 750 beds have already been removed and the capacity of Rikers Island jails has been reduced from 17,421 to 16,680.  The goal is a maximum Rikers capacity of 13,454.
  
  
• The Department of Correction and economic Development Corporation, worked closely with the Brooklyn Borough President's office and is about to issue a "Request for Expressions of Interest," to solicit proposals from developers on how multiple uses might be included in development of the Brooklyn jail site.  The existing jail building could be reopened on short notice and the design and construction of a jail expansion would take about five years.