The Brooklyn Detention Complex will be closed in January 2020. The Brooklyn jail which has been at 275 Atlantic Avenue since 1957 is outmoded by modern prison standards. It has a capacity of 759 inmates but only houses 350 to 400 currently for those waiting for their bail hearing or trial. Closing this facility, the mayor says, will result in better conditions for both inmates and correctional staff with improved programming and safer facilities and concentrated resources. Employees won’t lose their jobs — they will be reassigned to other facilities. Inmates will just be moved to other borough facilities.
The bidding process for the demolition of the 11-story Brooklyn jail is under way and a 29-story facility with a capacity of around 900 beds will replace it by 2026. The new jail was originally proposed to be 39 stories high, but was reduced as officials updated the plans to account for an even further expected drop in the city’s incarcerated population. No designs for the building are available yet.
In January 2018, Mayor de Blasio announced a 10-year plan to close the Rikers Island Jail Complex and transfer its reduced jail population to new jails close to courthouses within the boroughs and nearer to the detainees’ families and attorneys. Read more about the Rikers Island closure and the borough-based jail plan here.
