By Joe Hirsch
news@huntspointexpress.com
The city’s plan to build a jail in Hunts Point remains in limbo while Mayor Bloomberg decides who his next Corrections commissioner will be.
Martin Horn resigned as commissioner of the city’s Department of Correction in July to teach at John Jay School of Criminal Justice.
Horn angered many in Hunts Point when he announced plans to build a 2000-bed jail on a privately-owned 28-acre lot in the Oak Point section of the neighborhood in 2005 to replace deteriorating dormitories on Riker’s Island.
The Department of Correction later scrapped that plan in the face of opposition from the waterfront property’s owner and public outcry against the idea from residents and elected officials, but later announced plans to build a smaller jail near the Fish Market.
Whether the new commissioner will proceed with plans for a Hunts Point jail as Horn envisioned it is unclear.
“Our big question is how much of this was Marty Horn, and how much of that survives with the new commissioner,” said Brett Collazzi, a spokesman for City Council member Jimmy Vacca of the Bronx, who heads the Council’s Fire and Criminal Justice Committee.
Vacca is still weighing the issues, Collazzi said.
“He understands the community’s concerns, but also thinks the borough jail is not a terrible idea,” he said of Vacca’s position.
Corrections officials have maintained that building a jail in Hunts Point would make it easier for South Bronx residents to visit incarcerated loved ones, rather than enduring the long commute to Riker’s Island.
Opponents of the jail have scoffed at that claim, saying alternative to incarceration programs and investment in education are more just and effective ways to help the neighborhood. In addition, they cite the city’s shrinking budget and argue falling crime rates should be reflected with sharper cuts to jail expenditures.
Some jail opponents are skeptical a new commissioner will bring the fundamental changes they say the prison system needs.
“It’s not a question of who the commissioner is,” said Lisa Ortega of Rights for Imprisoned People with Psychiatric Disabilities. “We don’t believe in the system.”
Ortega’s group is part of Community in Unity, a Hunts Point-based coalition of organizations and residents that has organized protests and informational events to rally residents against the jail.
“We want someone who believes in rehabilitation,” Ortega said.
No date has been established for the Mayor’s decision, although “a few candidates are being considered,” according to Stephen Morello, spokesman for the Department of Correction.
A version of this story appeared in the September edition of the Hunts Point Express.