City To Reopen Jails In Brooklyn And Queens
NEW YORK (AP) -- New York City's correction department says it plans to reopen a jail in downtown Brooklyn, but will forego plans to double its size.
Commissioner Dora Schiriro says the agency also will reopen a jail near the Kew Gardens court house in Queens.
The move is part of a larger reconfiguration of the city's jail system, expected to be completed by 2017.
With the changes, the city will be able to house 16,500 inmates, less than the current 19,400. But the commissioner says the city's average daily jail population has steadily declined. There were 21,400 in 1992, compared to 14,000 in recent years.
Other changes include moving a jail barge in the Bronx to Rikers Island and tearing down rundown buildings on the grounds of the Queens facility.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
