Here Goes Again: City Wants Bigger Jail with Retail

The city has gone back to the drawing board with its plans for the Brooklyn House of Detention. Last week, it released a new RFP for the facility that, among other things, calls for "additional housing for 720 inmates in twelve dormitories of sixty beds each," which is basically a doubling in size. We know this because the "Brooklyn House of Detention Community Stakeholders Group," which has set up its own website, got hold of the RFP to double the jail and posted it. The group sent out an email blast yesterday saying the city hadn't invited the community to a meeting on Thursday or told it about the RFP. The last RFP attracted an ambitious proposal for an alternative program on the site, condos, rental apartments and retail. It was not considered by the city. The timeline for the jail expansion takes it far beyond the end of the Bloomberg Administration. The Stakeholders group emerged in March and set up its own website with the catch name, brooklynjail.org.