HOD History

The Brooklyn House of Detention was built in 1957. Located at the major intersection of Atlantic Avenue and Brooklyn Bridge Boulevard, it stands at a gateway to Brooklyn and is highly visible because of its situation on these two wide thoroughfares.

The HOD as it stands can house 815 male detainees, most of whom await charging or trial in Brooklyn and Staten Island courts. It was closed in 2003 owing to Department of Corrections (DOC) reorganization policies that are now being reversed. The ambition of the DOC is now to double the former maximum number of occupants of the HOD.

Brooklyn in 1957 was a very different place from what it is now. Boerum Hill and Downtown Brooklyn were at that time depressed; housing stocks had fallen into decline, and the neighborhood became burdened with government social service providers, many of which remain in place today, despite the renaissance of the neighborhood.

Boerum Hill is now thriving, undergoing over the last decade revival in the form of new institutions, businesses, restaurants, and new families moving in. Plans are underway for an entire urban renewal of Downtown Brooklyn.

In contrast to the vibrancy of the successful transformation of Boerum Hill and the surrounding neighborhoods, the HOD stands as a monument to government waste and failed DOC policies. Millions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on ill-conceived renovations. Simply stated, the HOD has been a sinkhole for your tax dollars.

Examples:

• $18 million kitchen created and never used
• $45 million pink marble exterior cladding, installed over 8 years
• Bollards installed to prevent abusive parking by HOD and court employees, then uninstalled
• $16 million for replacing windows in an empty facility

HOD does not currently meet federal guidelines for detention facilities and requires major reconfiguring even if capacity is not increased.

DOC wishes to double current capacity even in the face of plummeting crime rates and strong opposition from community organizations that have solid support from elected officials.


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