Teenage inmates were safer at Rikers

From PIX11:

Teens were transferred out of the Rikers Island jail complex to the Horizon Juvenile Facility in the Bronx, but the mom of one teen now at Horizon believes her son was better off at Rikers.

The mother spoke with PIX11 on the condition of anonymity, she doesn't want anyone inside Horizon to retaliate against her 17-year-old son. His teen years have been spent in and out of courts and jail. She believes on Rikers Island he had access to more libraries and programs. The mom also said visits have been difficult at Horizon after several miscommunications.

"Nobody wants their child to be locked away, but what you want most of all, is that if they are, that they are being treated as a person," she said.

She isn't the only worried parent. Jimmey DeMoss, a single father from Queens, also has a 17-year-old son at Horizon.

“He’s in there to learn a lesson, but the lesson I think he's learning is the wrong lesson,” DeMoss told PIX11 News.

Jails, jails, everywhere!

From the Times Ledger:

There was tension last week as Kew Gardens residents expressed their opposition to the city’s proposal to reopen the existing Queens Detention Center complex as part of the city’s plan to shutter the Rikers Island prison over the next 10 years.

Hundreds of Kew Gardens residents attended the Queens Scoping Hearing, held Wednesday, Sept. 26 at Queens Borough Hall, located at 120-55 Queens Blvd. City officials were unable to finish their sentences amidst the loud interruptions in the Helen Marshall Cultural Center.

Misael Syldor, of the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform — who was born and raised in Queens — delivered the testimony.

“At Rikers, people come out worse off than when they go in,” said Syldor. “The proposed facility in Queens is an opportunity for us to be closer to our loved ones, legal representation, and other services that will help them rehabilitate and become productive members of our communities.”

Audience members were divided on the closing of Rikers Island and the implementation of community-based borough jails. Residents who stood up to speak stated that there was no community involvement on the city’s plan to reopen the Queens jail complex.

In August, the de Blasio administration announced a proposal to redevelop Queens Detention Complex — located at 126-02 82nd Ave., adjacent to the Queens Criminal Courthouse — and the neighboring municipal parking lot into a corrections center with space for 1,510 prisoner beds.

“Why is $10 billion being funneled into the jail plan when that money can be used for creating affordable housing, our public schools and creating new roads,” asked Grace Wong. of Fresh Meadows.

Residents stressed the issues of overcrowding, parking availability, nearby schools, and transportation in the neighborhood.

Andrea Crawford, counsel to the Kew Gardens Improvement Association, said the city’s plan to build the jail complex will “cripple the neighborho­od,” and has no economic benefits to the community.


From CBS2:

Residents gave city representatives an earful in the Bronx Wednesday night in response to a plan to build a jail to help replace Rikers Island.

The opposition was loud and clear as families from Mott Haven spoke out angrily against the city’s plan to open a jail at an old tow pound on Concord Avenue.

“Some of us residents have made lives and raised families on Concord Avenue for over 70 years,” resident Myra Hernandez said. “We are enraged.”

Hernandez lives two blocks from the proposed site in the Bronx.

“For anyone to propose that this is going to be beneficial for these communities that are oppressed and marginalized, has no clue,” she said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to close the jails on Rikers Island and move towards a borough-based jail system. It would build facilities on the Concord Avenue property in the Bronx, Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn, Centre Street in Manhattan, and 82nd Avenue in Queens.

From the NY Times:

When the city moved its youngest inmates from Rikers Island to a juvenile detention center last week, the goal was to shield them from the violence of the adult jail and place them in an age-appropriate setting, as required under a new state law.

But so far the mayhem has followed them.

Since last week, when the city’s youngest offenders began moving into Horizon Juvenile Center, there have been at least five violent episodes. These brawls among inmates have caused dozens of injuries to correction officers assigned to the center, union leaders said.

On Wednesday, 20 correction officers suffered minor injuries when a fight involving 16 inmates from two rival gangs broke out about 11:30 a.m., correction officials said. The officers’ union said the fight started when one group of teenagers, who were in school at the facility, spotted members of a rival gang in the hallway.

After the fight, unions representing correction officers and social workers, as well as two City Council members, criticized the mayor and city officials for moving the young inmates before addressing safety and security concerns.



Oh, shit!

Juvie facility nixed

From the Times Ledger:

The plans for a juvenile group home proposed for a Jamaica Avenue site in Queens Village have been dropped by the city Administration Children’s Services after community members protested for months, elected officials announced Tuesday.

The former Merrick Academy school building on the corner of 207th Street and Jamaica Avenue would have become a group home for juvenile delinquents to transition into responsible young men while in a neighborhood environment through a state program administered by ACS.

Residents joined with elected officials and community leaders to stop the site plan through legal and social means and were elated to hear the news that the proposal for the group home had been canceled.

Contract for juvie home rejected by comptroller

From the Queens Chronicle:

South Ozone Park residents and members of the South Ozone Park Civic Association West on Tuesday erupted with applause when they heard the news that city Comptroller Scott Stringer rejected the contract for a proposed juvenile detention center on a residential block in the community.

A spokesman for the comptroller said the contract was sent back to the city Administration for Children's Services on Friday, June 12, due to "inconsistencies in the contract."

An ACS spokesman said in an email about the rejection "The Comptroller's office has given ACS additional time to provide more information about our contracts for Limited Secure Placement services, and we are hopeful that we will be able to do right by these young people and bring them closer to home later this summer."

Councilman Ruben Wills (D-South Jamaica), who announced the news to the civic at their meeting on Tuesday, called Stringer's move "a huge step" in the community's fight against the facility that seeks to hold 18 juvenile offenders at 133-23 127 St.

Juvie jail opposed in Queens Village

From the Queens Courier:

Residents and community leaders in Queens Village are strongly opposed to a plan to convert a former school into a facility for delinquent children who have committed crimes as part of the state’s “Close to Home” law.

The law, enacted in 2012 by the Cuomo administration, seeks to bring young offenders from facilities upstate closer to their families and lawyers in the city.

The city’s Administration of Children’s Services (ACS) has targeted the building at 207-01 Jamaica Ave., the former home of the Merrick Academy charter school, to be the facility for troubled city youngsters, who have been arrested before they turned 16 years old and are considered “at-risk.” The city agency is hoping to house 18 youth offenders at the site in a “group home” setting, and The Children’s Village will operate the site under a contract with ACS.

However, Queens Village residents said they have not been adequately informed about the plan and don’t want teens with criminal backgrounds in their residential neighborhood, fearing they could escape and harm the community.

Katz's selective outrage

From the NY Times:

Michael Duvalle squared up in front of a two-story brick building on a quiet residential block in southern Queens and brought a megaphone to his lips. A retired security executive and local resident, Mr. Duvalle had a message for the commissioner of the city’s Administration for Children’s Services, Gladys Carrión.

“Commissioner, if you’re listening,” he began, his amplified voice ricocheting off the facade, “this is Mike Duvalle asking you to put this prison in your neighborhood, not in our neighborhood!”

Ms. Carrión was not in the building. Nobody was. But Mr. Duvalle’s bit of political theater on Saturday capped an hourlong rally by more than 40 residents of South Ozone Park, the latest action in a growing protest against the city’s conversion of the building, once a convent, into a center for adolescents who have committed acts of delinquency.

The center is part of the Close to Home program, an initiative started in 2012 by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, to place some juvenile delinquents — those who are not sentenced to secure facilities upstate — in group homes closer to their families. In New York City, the program’s centers are overseen by the Administration for Children’s Services.

The South Ozone Park center has set off vociferous opposition among some residents of the neighborhood who, since mid-February, have held weekly protest marches through the district to rally more critics. Last week, residents escalated their fight, filing a class-action lawsuit seeking to stop the opening of the center.

Residents have also marshaled the support of politicians who represent the neighborhood, including City Councilman Ruben W. Wills, who has been working with residents for months to block the project. And on Friday, the Queens borough president, Melinda Katz, another Democrat, stepped up her own opposition, sending a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio requesting that the South Ozone Park location “be shelved” and that the city find an alternate site.

Critics say the South Ozone Park center raises concerns for the safety of neighborhood residents in the event that one of its charges escape. Furthermore, they contend, the center’s presence could lower property values.

Hmm, I can't help but notice the way the press frames these issues when it's a black neighborhood fighting something detrimental vs. a white or Asian neighborhood. I also like Melinda Katz's selective opposition. No letter was sent from her to de Blasio about the Pan Am or the Westway.

Juvie facility slapped with stop work order

From the Queens Chronicle:

The Department of Buildings has ordered that construction on the controversial juvenile delinquent center in South Ozone Park be stopped, saying the work being done on the facility does not match the plans submitted to the department.

On Feb. 27, the DOB stated that the steel beams, columns and staircases being built at 133-23 127 St. do not appear on the plans the DOB approved.

Workers have been conducting renovations on the site to allow it to house 18 juvenile delinquents as part of “Close to Home,” a state program that seeks to place minors in the criminal justice system near their homes, rather than in prisons upstate or in Rikers.

In addition to the stop-work order, a number of residents have made complaints to the DOB about a lack of safety netting at the construction site.

Multiple complaints on the DOB’s website state that debris has been falling on the sidewalk.

One complaint states that debris was left on the sidewalk. A stop-work order previously had been issued for the lack of fencing or scaffolds, but was later lifted.

The facility is scheduled to open on March 14.

Facility for juvenile delinquents not welcome in S.Ozone Park

From the Queens Chronicle:

What was billed as a way for South Ozone Park residents to get answers from officials seeking to operate a residence for juvenile delinquents in the community quickly dissolved into more than 100 people shouting with frustration on Tuesday.

“We don’t want it here,” several residents yelled at a meeting of the South Ozone Park Civic Association West. “Put it somewhere else.”

The city Administration for Children’s Services leased a property at 133-23 127 St. to house 18 criminal offenders between the ages of 14 and 17. The program, entitled “Close to Home,” was passed as part of the 2012 state budget and seeks to hold juvenile criminals in residences closer to where they live, rather than in upstate prison facilities.

But several of the residents blasted officials from ACS and the organization that will oversee the teens or youths in the property —Episcopal Social Services — for no prior notice about the new residence, its proximity to two other similar shelters and a lack of answers.

Somehow, this is not surprising.

Tomorrow's borough board meeting sounds like fun

From Progress Queens:

Borough President Katz will host a meeting of the Queens Borough Board on Monday, Dec. 1, at 5:30 p.m. at Queens Borough Hall to discuss large-scale real estate development of Queens.

Scheduled to be discussed during the meeting is an agenda item titled, "Planning for the Future of Queens – an Update on Strategic Initiatives." Carl Weisbrod, a director of the New York City Department of City Planning and Chairman of the New York City Planning Commission, is expected to address the meeting, according to the Borough President Katz's media advisory.

The Queens Borough Board meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. Monday evening, and the meeting will take place in the Borough President’s Conference Room of Queens Borough Hall, 120-55 Queens Boulevard, 2nd Floor.

Queens finds itself in the cross-hairs of real estate developers and government officials for major development, none of which fully addresses the need for the creation of large-scale stock of affordable housing. Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-New York City) announced that the city would target Flushing, Queens, for zone-busting development, and the city's Economic Development Corporation has expressed interest in exploiting Jamaica, Queens, for rapid development, as well. Flushing is encompassed in Queens Community Boards 7, 8, and 11, whilst Jamaica is encompassed in Queens Community Boards 8 and 12. Already, a group has formed in Jamaica "to build relationships with private companies" to facilitate real estate investments in Jamaica.

Residents in Queens, including long-term immigrant residents, have opposed the conversions of hotel facilities into permanent homeless shelters, like the former Pan American Hotel, as seen on Oct. 3, 2014. Queens is being targeted for rapid upscale real estate development at the same time when the borough is also paradoxically being chosen as the setting for a greater share of the city's homeless shelters and for more juvenile inmate detention centers.

Separately, the city is looking at Queens for the creation of permanent homeless shelters, which is causing turmoil in bedroom communities opposed to inconveniences associated with shelters, even pitting long-term immigrant residents against newly-arrived immigrants. The city is also evaluating the need to create a permanent detention center in Queens for juvenile inmates to comply with new state regulations at the same time when federal prosecutors, in an unrelated action, have recommended to the de Blasio administration the relocation of teenage inmates away from Rikers Island, a recommendation that New York City Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley (D-Queens) said could be accomplished by renovating the now-vacant Queens House of Detention.

Juvie jail to be placed in southeastern Queens

From the Daily News:

The city is searching for sites in Queens to place a “limited secure” facility for juvenile offenders, the News has learned.

Sources said locations in South Ozone Park and Jamaica are being studied.

But officials from the Administration for Children’s Services would only say they are planning to place six of these facilities across the five boroughs with 12 to 20 youngsters in each.

“We have heard a lot of talk about juveniles not bring in regular jails,” said Frank Dardani, chair of the 106th Precinct Community Council. “We want to make sure it would be secure and that they have the proper staffing.”

The 2012 state “Close to Home” law was designed to reform the troubled juvenile justice system that kept young offenders in remote upstate facilities.

Under the reforms, juvenile offenders who only need lower levels of supervision will be moved into the city to be closer to their families and support systems. So-called 'limited secure" will still be locked and fenced but will have less of a jail-like atmosphere,

Young offenders who need to be in the most secure setting will remain in upstate facilities.

Group homes for delinquents are pretty ineffective

From the Daily News:

A promising Bloomberg administration program designed to help troubled juveniles needs immediate reform.

Queens Family Court Judge John Hunt revealed last week that teens deemed delinquents were walking away from city group homes pretty much as they pleased.

The courts had issued more than 400 warrants for kids who’d absconded. One runaway had bolted 10 times. The case of one Arnold P., who went AWOL from a Far Rockaway group home where he was supposed to spend 18 months, was the most frightening. He was subsequently charged in five robberies while on the loose.

Until recently, New York State housed delinquent city teens in upstate facilities where conditions were horrendous. The state forced the city to pay exorbitant costs for the privilege.

Then the Bloomberg administration, arguing that the kids would fare better near home, lobbied Albany to turn custody of the delinquents over to the Administration for Children’s Services.

They were placed in 11 facilities operated by private organizations — and they have been taking off far too frequently. Almost half return voluntarily within 24 hours and two-thirds within 48 hours. That’s all well and good, but they shouldn’t be taking off in such numbers in the first place.

More problems dumped on Rockaway

"Just received this email from local friends which was dispersed by a local police officer. I would appreciate your not using names nor my name. But this is just terrible if it’s true. We are a dumping ground here in the Rockaways. There seems to be no way out for us to improve." - Anonymous

My source telling me of 270 troubled youths who will soon be using the Stella Maris School in Rockaway Park is TRUE. My source also states coming in from other boroughs is TRUE. Yes... the Martin De Porres School will be opening when school starts and their staff will be there the day before. I drove by the school this afternoon and just happened to talk to some worker there who gave me the information, but then in the front of the school I ran into the Assistant Principal (Frank) of this new school and he gave me the same information. If you don't know, as a non profit they do not have to go thru the Community Board. Also I contacted our local officials, papers etc. to make them aware of what is going on in our Community.

Now for the next bit of lovely news my source gave me today, the St. John's Boys Home will soon be housing (this Sept) 12 Criminals. I don't have the information on the ages or what their status is but the program will be called "NON SECURE PLACEMENT." Someone else sent me the information below on this program that runs in Richmond Hill, Queens.

St. John's operates one "Non Secure Detention" group home facility, which is funded by the New York City Department of Juvenile Justice. This 10 bed facility, located in Richmond Hill, Queens, serves as a short term residence for adolescent males as they await Family Court outcomes.