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Downtown Jail "The Tombs" Will Close In November, Says Correction Commissioner
By
David Cruz
Published Oct 9, 2020
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By
David Cruz
Published Oct 9, 2020
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The Manhattan Detention Complex, the notoriously dank jails facility nicknamed "The Tombs," will close next month. In a letter sent to staffers on Friday, city Department of Corrections commissioner Cynthia Brann reportedly said the 15-story complex covering an entire square block on Centre Street in Lower Manhattan will close its 881-bed facility sometime in November.
“We are also taking advantage of the significant reduction in our current and projected jail population to continue closing older facilities that pose the most pressing administrative and structural problems. This will allow us to consolidate our efforts in better facilities, reduce overtime, expand training and programs, and continue investing in enhancing safety,” Brann wrote.
She also announced that the Otis Bantum Correction Center on Rikers Island in Queens will be closed, part of a larger effort to centralize the shrinking jail population as the city moves toward building four borough-based jails. The plan hit a snag last month after a Manhattan judge halted the construction of a jail in Chinatown, which could have implications for the other borough-based jails.
Peter Thorne, DOC spokesperson, told Gothamist in a statement that the consolidation "will reduce overtime, expand training and programs, and continue investing in enhancing safety.”
Staffers at each complex will be reassigned next month, according to Brann. The Corrections Officers' Benevolent Association reportedly said there 748 officers at MDC and another 857 guards at OBCC. A total of 763 inmates are housed between the two jail centers, according to figures obtained by the Daily News.
MDC has had a history of violent episodes happen inside the fortress-like structure that adjoins another building housing Manhattan's Central Booking unit and the District Attorney's office. The history of violence goes back to at least 1970 when detainees took five guards hostage, later releasing them.
While gang-affiliated stabbings have been known to happen, guards have shown an indifference to inmates, as in the case of one detainee, a member of the Crips gang, who was attacked by the rival Bloods, according to a lawsuit reported by the NY Post.
The conditions inside have been largely criticized. In an article from VICE in July 2015, former inmates described the complex as "cold as a refrigerator; at others, the kitchen feels like a sauna. Not much light makes it through the slits that serve as windows, and little movement is allowed outside of cells, especially on high-security floors.
In August, a fire allegedly started by one of the inmates inside MDC forced the evacuation of inmates and staffers.
Benny Boscio, COBA president, said in a statement, "Today’s reckless announcement on the planned closures of MDC and OBCC would throw inmates and officers on top of those who are already in the other jails, increasing the density and compromising our ability to prepare for a second wave of COVID-19 that has already emerged in Brooklyn and Queens."
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Manhattan Detention Complex
the tombs
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David Cruz
David is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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