NCJ Number
94052
Journal
National Centurion Volume: 2 Issue: 3 Dated: (April 1984) Pages: 41-46
Date Published
1984
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article traces the history of the building, renovation, reconstruction, and conditions of New York City's jail, known as The Tombs, and describes in detail the most recent reconstruction.
Abstract
The Tombs has traditionally been characterized by overcrowding, squalid conditions, inmate abuse, and riots. A succession of renovations and reconstructions failed to improve conditions significantly until 1974, when a judge ordered The Tombs to be either improved or closed. This ruling led directly to the creation of the newest Tombs, which received its first inmates late in 1983 after a $43 million renovation that took nearly 10 years. Only the steel framework and outside walls remain from the previous structure. There are three minijails with separate housing and controls on floors 3-5, 6-8, and 9-11. Each three-floor unit has a central floor composed of a half-floor of housing and a half-floor of program area, including classrooms, offices, a library, a commissary, a medical triage room, a babershop, and a small gymnasium. Floors above and below have split-level cell areas. They consist of 22-34 cubicles with outside exposure grouped around activity areas with provision for recreation, dining, telephones, showers, and personal laundry. Electropneumatic sliding steel doors separate each minijail floor from the building's elevators. The jail has a capacity of 421 inmates, and each cell measures at least 70 square feet. Hollow metal doors to the cells swing in and have been designed for inmate privacy. They can be controlled from a console by the guards or opened by key. Under court orders, only one person is permitted in each cell. While some have criticized the new jail for lack of security and motel-like comfort, the inmates and staff are generally pleased with the new facility.