City Council Candidates in District 43 on Closing Rikers
GOP and Dems in District 43 are split down the middle when it comes to Mayor de Blasio’s decision to close Rikers Island.
Last week de Blasio published a 10-year-plan to close the infamous correctional facility. His “smaller, safer, fairer” trajectory proposes to reduce the overall jail population, implement technology to ensure the safety of correction officers and inmates and improve re-entry planning as to reduce recidivism.
The mayor’s plan to close Rikers was offered as a response to an independent commission on New York City’s judicial system and incarceration reform, chaired by retired Judge John Lippman. The extensive 140-page dissection of New York City’s judicial system and jail complex named current practices ineffective and pointed out racial disparities within both structures. City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito convened the commission’s recommendations in March.
District 43 City Council Liam McCabe disagreed with the mayor’s decision to close Rikers, and spoke to the $11.4 -13.9 billion cost associated with the judicial and jail reformation.
“I do not agree with Mayor de Blasio’s plan to shut down Rikers Island and spread out the jail’s population across the Five Boroughs,” said McCabe. “Yet again, Mayor de Blasio is making unreasonable, expensive, potentially dangerous decisions for the City.” The mayor’s budgeting habits have been criticized throughout his term.
The plan to reduce the jail population, as indicated in the mayor’s plan, aims to reduce the prisoner toll from 9,400 to 7,000 within 5 years with an ultimate goal of 5,000 prisoners citywide. The projected number of inmates, however, will not accommodate the city’s existing correctional facilities and therefore the city will need to build additional infrastructure to close Rikers which can hold a capacity of 15,000 inmates.
In line with her opponent, the newest City Council candidate, Lucretia Regina-Potter, also opposed the plan for new neighborhood jails. “As a potential City Council member in the 43rd Council District, I am strongly opposed to the mayor’s decision to close Riker’s Island and place correctional facilities in many New York City neighborhoods,” said Regina-Potter.
“Members of any community deserve safety, respect, and the right to enjoy their neighborhood. Placing correctional facilities in communities will degrade neighborhoods, decrease property values, and cause urban blight.”
Bob Capano, Reform party nominee and Republican candidate focused his attention on the security issues the city faces when Rikers is closed.
“I do not agree with the mayor’s decision to close Riker’s Island,” said Capano.
“Rikers Island is surrounded by high fences, lots of barb wire, swift currents, and has one way on or off, a bridge. That’s what anyone with common sense would call a good location for a jail. If someone escapes from Rikers Island, a dangerous prisoner is still contained on a heavily secured island and not roaming the streets of our neighborhoods” said Capano.
John Quaglione agreed with his GOP colleagues in opposing the mayor’s plan to close Rikers. “I believe I bring a platform that, when I am elected, will improve public safety in our community and our City. I strongly oppose the Mayor’s plan to close Riker’s Island and opening up jails throughout our City.
Despite the Lippman’s report that suggests correctional facilities should be strategically situated next to courthouses to minimize transportation costs, The mayor’s language does not expressly commit to restricting sites to neighboring judicial buildings in his newly released plan.
In a statement that accompanied the 52-page roadmap, the de Blasio wrote “Once the jail population reaches 5,000, the City will be in a position to close Rikers Island for good. Doing so will depend on the desires of neighborhoods and their elected officials, as even a jail population of 5,000–significantly smaller than the jail population today–will still require identifying and developing appropriate sites for new jails as well as renovating existing facilities in the boroughs.”
The Democrats in the running all agreed with the mayor’s assertion but most objected to the idea of housing facilities within their districts.
Democratic District Leader Nancy Tong, “Drastic action needs to be taken to address the unsafe conditions at this facility,” said Tong. “I agree that it must be closed, but there must be smaller prisons throughout the boroughs to replace them for those who must be remained in a prison setting.”
Justin Brannan echoed the sentiments of Tong, but added his concerns about the possibility of housing correctional facilities in District 43.
“I think we can all agree that our criminal justice system needs reform and the proposal to close Rikers is a good way to start that process in earnest, said Brannan, said Brannan.”
“As I understand it, the Lippman plan is designed to place prison populations in local community jail facilities in order to cut down on transportation costs and improve the overall court process. This would make the Detention Complex in downtown Brooklyn the logical place to house a reduced inmate population. Housing inmates in the 43rd Council District is not part of the plan. Our community is also is too far away to provide the kind of access to courts and lower transportation costs the plan is designed to address.”
Newcomer to the race, Vince Chirico agreed with his democratic competitors on the closing of the 440-acre facility and pushed for swiftness and the protection of officers enforcement employed at the facility.
“Rikers Island must be closed, much earlier than the 10 years proposed by the mayor,” said Chirico. It’s also important to ensure that the hardworking men and women of the Correction Officers Benevolent Association are able to maintain their jobs throughout this process.”
District leader, Kevin Peter Carroll, also agreed with the closing of Rikers but was more cautious in his statement to support new correctional facilities in the area.
“I support the current plan to close Rikers “As for support in the 43rd. I think an extensive hearing process needs to be put forward to find out the best locations for the new correctional facilities. Once that process is complete and issues a report I would give my opinion based on the results.
