“As we look at construction and now with the…kind of the movement to close Rikers all those things politically have to be taken into consideration,” Ponte testified, according to a transcript of the proceedings. “So the 1,500 bed facility on Rikers is still at…at a kind of a pause right now.”
Ponte added, “We’ve done a lot of work on the 1,500 bed facility. There’s been some renovations on the ground. Some structures have been torn down. So we have a good footprint. We’ve looked at the plan. So it’s…well, it is at this point on pause.”
Ponte’s acknowledgement that construction on the site — originally begun during the Bloomberg administration and continued under the current administration — had been halted significantly differed from what Mayor Bill de Blasio told the Voice at a press conference held over a month ago.
In response to a direct question about whether a new jail was under construction on Rikers, de Blasio said. “I don’t know of any new facility being constructed on Rikers Island. I know there’s working being done on existing facilities. But let’s have folks who are more expert than me speak to that.”
Commissioner Ponte’s announcement came as a shock to another member of the committee, Councilman Paul Vallone, of Queens. Vallone responded by saying that he “had some questions, but you just threw them out the window when you said the facility is on pause.”
Vallone continued: “Wait. That. To me … The plan, each year, each budget, was to help you fight for that budget,” referring to the money needed to build a new jail, which could cost as much as $1 billion. “Who decided to put it on pause?”
That question was never answered.