Eleven Bronx elected officials have urged Mayor Bill de Blasio and City Council Speaker Corey Johnson to halt plans to construct a new prison facility in the South Bronx amid a budget crunch caused by the coronavirus, and to reallocate the funds instead to critical programs for vulnerable populations.

 

Congressman José E. Serrano, who is due to retire later this year, Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., and nine other Bronx based state senators and assembly members, wrote to de Blasio and Johnson asking them to reconsider construction plans for a new jail facility in the Bronx’s Mott Haven neighborhood, as part of an $8.7 billion funding allocation to build new jails across the city.

 

They called instead to reallocate the funding for programs aimed at helping vulnerable Bronxites and New Yorkers in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

The letter was signed by eleven Bronx elected officials: Congressman Serrano, Borough President Diaz, State Senators Luis Sepulveda, José M. Serrano and Gustavo Rivera, as well as State Assembly members Michael Blake, Victor Pichardo, Karines Reyes, Nathalia Fernandez, Carmen Arroyo and Marcos Crespo.

 

“The coming budget discussions have the potential to further exacerbate existing inequalities in our City and in our communities if budget cuts go ahead as planned,” the elected officials wrote in the letter.

 

“The City budget is due soon and your offices will soon get to work in a way that reflects our new Covid-19 reality. It is the City’s responsibility to make sure that all New Yorkers, including the communities that are most impacted by the virus and who are the least able to recover, get the support they need,” they added.

 

“Continuing to fund a capital plan that includes a jail in the South Bronx and not fund essential services for this community is reckless and irresponsible. We are asking that your plan to site the jail in Mott Haven be reconsidered and that funding be reinvested in much-needed services elsewhere in our most impacted communities,” the letter continued.

 

Serrano said in a separate statement, “The Bronx is the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States. No other part of the country has been hit as hard as our community has. It is time to put a halt to this project so that the financial resources that have been allocated to its completion can be put towards more important priorities right now – the health and education of our families and workers”.

 

He added, “I urge Mayor de Blasio and New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson to reconsider this project as it evaluates the budget in the coming weeks”.

 

In a separate statement, Diaz Jr. said, “In this time of great crisis where we have taken an economic hit, especially here in The Bronx, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important that we allocate our funding where it can help.”

 

He added, “We need to invest in people, not projects like this, so that we can help close the gap on the social and economic disparities that exacerbated the death toll of Coronavirus victims in our borough.”

 

Meanwhile, Fernandez said in a separate statement, “During unprecedented times of financial hardship, it would be irresponsible to utilize $8.7 billion to the construction of a jail, and not prioritize that money to where it is needed most”.

 

She added, “Right now, there are people who cannot put food on the table and lack the necessary essential services they need to get through this pandemic. The Bronx is one of the hardest hit boroughs, we are seeing monumental loss of human life and we do not have enough services to provide to families in need. I join my colleagues in asking that the plan for the Mott Haven jail be reconsidered and the funds reinvested in other needed services.”

 

In a separate statement, Pichardo said, “Amid a series of budget cuts throughout the state and city of New York, it is infuriating to think that $8.7 billion of the city’s budget is being allocated for new facilities to incarcerate many of my neighbors,”

 

He added, “Reallocating these funds would alleviate a lot of economic restraints specifically in communities that are being impacted the most during this crisis. My neighbors NEED help and support. I am proud to join my colleagues in calling upon Mayor De Blasio and Speaker Johnson to invest in much needed resources in my district and many communities across New York City”.

 

The full text of the letter can be read by clicking on the following link:

 

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