DA Gonzalez doesn’t think Brooklyn will need new jail if Rikers closes
If New York City follows through on its plan to close Rikers Island within the next 10 years, it will have to build alternative jail sites throughout the boroughs to house inmates. However, Kings County District Attorney Eric Gonzalez is confident that Brooklyn will be able to use the existing prison, located on Atlantic Avenue, to house additional inmates.
“I’m lucky,” Gonzalez said during an interview with supermarket magnate and radio host John Catsimatidis. “The political issues of where a jail would go or how we can house people in the boroughs don’t really apply to Brooklyn.”
The current plan to close Rikers Island would require the city to cut down the total population of inmates at the facility and then house them in each of the boroughs.