Brooklyn Borough Prez Says No To Current Atlantic Ave. Jail Plan

DOWNTOWN, BROOKLYN — Borough President Eric Adams supports the city's idea to use Brooklyn's 275 Atlantic Avenue jail as one of four that will replace Rikers Island, but has a long list of things he would like to see happen before the controversial plan goes through.

Adams unveiled his lengthy recommendation about the city's plan on Tuesday, revealing that, like Brooklyn's Community Board 2, he wants the size of the proposed jail drastically reduced before he will give it his full support.

The current proposal for Brooklyn would expand the Brooklyn Detention Complex from 815 beds to 1,437 beds as part of Mayor Bill de Blasio's plan for a borough-based jail system that, along with similar facilities in Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx, would let the city shut down Rikers.

But like many of the advocates that spoke out at a Borough Hall hearing he held on the plans, Adams suggested a list of criminal justice reforms that he said can help bring down the incarcerated population even further than the city's current goals.

“What we are proposing advances the City’s goal of closing Rikers while providing real benefits to the surrounding community," Adams said. "Most importantly, it offers a roadmap for ending the cycle of incarceration that plagues our underinvested communities. We urge the City to adopt these recommendations, and to work in close consultation with the community, so we can move forward in a responsible way."

The borough president approved designating the Atlantic Avenue facility as one of four borough-based jails with the condition that it is brought down to 900 beds and a local advisory committee gets in on the construction process.

He voted against of the overall zoning permit application, though, that the city would need to build the proposed 40-story jail. Adams and CB2's votes are both advisory.

Tacked onto the disapproval was a list of conditions, including changes to the building itself and to the city's overall approach to incarceration.

De Blasio's administration has said that the ultimate goal of shuttering Rikers' eight-jail complex is to reduce the incarcerated population from its current 7,500 to, most recently, 4,000. But most advocates, including those with #CLOSERikers, contend that even this number is too high, especially considering recently-passed criminal justice reform.

Adams suggested that the building should be no taller than 235, almost half of the current plan to make it 395 feet tall.

He also asked that the ground-floor space be restricted only to community cultural uses at an affordable rent and that some "environmental features," like rain gardens, get added to the plans. The city's plan calls for both community uses and retail space.

The more policy-based recommendations included expanding early childhood development interventions, adding more after school programs and supporting the Fair Futures initiative, which would give life coaches to foster youth from middle school to age 26.

For those that are already incarcerated, Adams also said there should be screenings for learning disabilities and more educational programs and more wellness programs, including nutrition education, plant-based diets and yoga, he said. The city should also be letting more non-violent offenders await trial at home instead of in jail and putting in more psychiatric support facilities.

Adams' recommendation comes after months of fraught public hearings about the Brooklyn plans both at Borough Hall and in front of Community Board 2. Boards in Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan also shot down the city's plans for jails in their boroughs.

At the June meeting at Borough Hall, more than 30 speakers were split, though, between those urging Adams to shoot down the plans and those arguing that voting yes would be the only way to ensure Rikers' infamous complex will close.