To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

Councilman David Yassky is upset that Boerum Hill's Brooklyn House of Detention is being put back into use. The facility was closed five years ago by Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration, but last year the Department of Corrections announced it would reopen and expand the facility.

On Sunday, about 50 inmates moved in. The DOC said they are members of a work crew, serving sentences of a year or less. They will paint and clean the building to get it ready for NYPD use.

Over the next five years, the facility will have about 1,500 inmates, double its previous capacity.

The city has said the move is part of a plan to actually reduce jail capacity since their plan includes the demolition of cells at Rikers Island.

Yassky says the plan will cost the city money and does not address community concerns.

"This is just a big waste of money at a time when we are cutting back on schools, we're cutting back on police officers, we're cutting back on garbage pick-up," said Yassky.

Correction officials say using this facility would save $1 million just by the NYPD using the detention center while its holding cells are out of commission because of a construction project. They also said that would cut the projection's construction time in half.

Many residents of Boerum Hill, however, did not want the corrections center to be in their neighborhood.

"I don't think in Downtown Brooklyn we need a jail," said local Ruth Lepin.

"You see, my son as he grows up, kids don't have a lot of places to play or hang out or do activities for the kids," said parent Gill Simmons. "But they find a way to open back up jails I know that!"

"It's just going to be a joke of construction sites wasting your money and my money," said local Jonah Sigel.

"The smart thing financially is for the city is to sell it, put it in private hands and collect the tax dollars," said Yassky, "and centralize the jail system in Rikers where it could be operated most efficiently."

A DOC spokesperson said that Rikers Island is falling apart and that the current plan cuts the city's costs to transport inmates from Rikers to courts in the five boroughs.