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NYC's floating jail to be scrapped for parts down in Louisiana
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Oct 1, 2025
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Courtesy NYC Economic Development Corporation
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Published Oct 1, 2025
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New York City’s notorious five-story floating jail in the Bronx will be tugged down to the bayou and scrapped for parts to make way for a new waterfront delivery hub, the Economic Development Corporation announced Wednesday.
The EDC made a deal with the company Louisiana Scrap Metal Recycling to dismantle the Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center, a 625-foot-long prison barge that served as an overflow for Rikers Island until it was decommissioned in 2023. Later this fall, the company will tug it from Hunts Point to the company's facility in Gibson, Louisiana, where it will be dismantled and sold to steel mills and metal factories in the region. The company agreed to pay New York City $1.5 million for the scrap.
Once the barge leaves town, the city aims to transform the area of Hunts Point into a marine terminal that will handle freight from barges and boats traveling through the East River. The planned terminal is part of the city’s “Blue Highways” initiative, which seeks to remove 9,000 monthly truck trips from the city’s streets by moving cargo on waterways instead of roadways. The EDC plans to use the hub as a staging area for small electric vehicles to make deliveries in the Bronx.
The EDC earlier this year announced the installation of a temporary barge dock at Hunts Point to begin its transformation into a maritime freight center.
“From clearing out an old prison barge to creating a new marine terminal, our administration is turning the page on Hunts Point and creating a cleaner, brighter future for the Bronx,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement. “With this new terminal, we’ll unload cargo from all across the world for delivery throughout the city and put even more New Yorkers to work in vibrant industries.”
When the floating jail opened in 1992, the 800-bed facility drew criticism for its $161 million price tag, which equates to about $377 million today when adjusted for inflation. That cost is a steal compared to the city’s new 1,040-bed jail in Brooklyn that’s now under construction, which is slated to cost $3 billion.
The floating jail also drew protests from criminal justice groups after several detainees died in the facility, including a man who died after he jumped into the East River in an attempted escape in 2022
The prison was built as a temporary measure to ease overcrowding at Rikers Island, which city officials hope to close in the next decade.
The city has also used former British troop carrier boats and decommissioned Staten Island Ferry ships as temporary floating jails to support Rikers.
Tagged
bronx
new york city
transportation
Ramsey Khalifeh
Ramsey Khalifeh is a transportation reporter on the NYC Accountability desk covering the largest transit system in the country. He was previously a general assignment reporter at Gothamist and worked on the Boston Globe's metro and copy desk. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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