The Jails of NYC

One of the unofficial features of this blog is discovering the cities, big cities, that fall within the Big Apple.

NYCHA, the harbor, the airports, the parks, the public schools, etc., are all sprawling organizations that make up important, if unseen and unacknowledged, systems across our city.

This is most true of our city's jails.

Right now NYC is in the process of closing Riker's Island over the course of the next decade. One day, if all goes according to plan, that little rock off the coast of Astoria will be vacant -- and probably turned into luxury high-rises. 

The prisoners of Riker's are moving elsewhere and, surprisingly, there are lots of places for them to go. I was shocked to discover that there are approximately thirty-two jails within the five boroughs that house the city's criminals. This article gives provides more info about them as well as a multi-media map showing the location of each one. It's a fascinating look at this city within NYC that most us are lucky enough to (and hope we never will) visit.