Close it? Campaign seeks to shutter NYC's Rikers Island jail

Associated Press ^ | Jan 9, 2016 12:02 PM EST | Jake Pearson

[Olog-hai]

Inside and outside of New York City's government, chatter is increasing about a once-unthinkable idea: shutting down the notorious Rikers Island jail complex.

A coalition of dozens of advocacy groups says it intends to pressure the mayor and other elected officials to take a stand, arguing the 400-acre island in the East River where most of the city's 10,000 inmates are held is too broken to be fixed, plagued by a culture of brutality, misconduct and corruption.

They are up against a formidable opposition that derides the effort as a fantasy that ignores political and practical realities. ...

[Norm Lenhart]

Let them out. I see no downside. Or difference. It’s a war zone anyway. The sooner NY is walled off the better.

Normie - Born and raised there.
And thankful to God I left 20 years ago.

[Insigne123]

Gitmo?

[dainbramaged]

Jail is an easy place to avoid.

[Tijeras_Slim]

is too broken to be fixed, plagued by a culture of brutality, misconduct and corruption.

Why should it be different from the rest of the city?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I smell #BLACKLIESMATTER.

[Ouderkirk]

I fail to understand why these nitwits think that jail needs to be the equivalent of a 5 star hotel.

[Norm Lenhart]

So they are comfy when they get there themselves.

Planning for their future.

[Mouton]

Keep it open and save a cell for Obama.

[Norm Lenhart]

I think “Escape from NY” had the best solution. If someone in that rathole is in need of extraction later, we can deal with it as required.

[stylin19a]

an GITMO hold 10,000 prisoners ?

[Alberta's Child]

I smell an enormous real estate deal in the making.

[KarlInOhio]

They need a larger island because Rikers is at risk of capsizing. Just turn all of Long Island into a prison. The Hamptons can become the minimum security section.

[digger48]

Move them all to the UN building.

It’s already full of worthless criminals anyway.

[PAR35]

Don’t know how it works in NY, but in Dallas, if you dug deep enough, you’d find a developer who has his eyes on the property.

[Gay State Conservative]

Great idea.Relocate it to Central Park West...take The Dakota by Eminent Domain.Yoko,and others will want to thank Justice Soutter.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I had not even thought of that. You are absolutely correct. That is what it is all about.

[Olog-hai]

What of Fire Island?

[Snickering Hound]

That’s what I’m thinking, someone believes that island is too prime real estate for a jail complex.

[Olog-hai]

Or another “wilderness preserve”.