The city’s plan to build a borough-based jail in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx finds itself emblematic of a growing criminal justice reform movement that began in the Bronx. And, as expected, it’s found itself intertwined with the crowded 15th Congressional District race, where Congressman Jose Serrano announced he will not seek re-election.

The entanglement, and subsequent intrigue, stems largely from Ritchie Torres and Ruben Diaz Sr., congressional candidates on the other side of the Democratic spectrum who double as Council Members. The two legislators will need to vote to approve or reject the plan. Their positions could have implications as the congressional race moves ahead.

And while Torres, via spokesman, declined to say whether he supported the plan, Diaz Sr. told the Norwood News he will vote against it.

Despite this, Diaz Sr. favors keeping the troubled jail complex open, a position that’s likely to rankle the progressive base fighting to have it permanently closed, creating even more ammunition for his opponents.

“Rikers Island is a good jail. All the money, all the money that they’re trying to spend building jails throughout the city, they should fix Rikers Island. And they will have a better place, a better area, a better jail than that,” said Diaz Sr. “I’m afraid they want to just get rid of Rikers Island so they could build a building for millionaires.”

Diaz also excoriated Torres for remaining silent on the borough-based plan, which will ultimately be voted on by the New York City Council before the year’s out.

“The Councilman doesn’t want to discuss the building of jails in the 15th Congressional District, and he refused to comment about it? Wow!” said Diaz. “That’s affecting people that live in the 15th Congressional District. If he’s trying to represent that area, and people are upset and he doesn’t want to give his opinion about it, that speaks volumes.”

In deciding his intent to vote against the plan, Diaz Sr. deviates from the Council members’ standard practice of voting in deference to the Council member who represents the area where a project lands. In this case, that deference would go to Manhattan/Bronx Councilwoman Diana Ayala, who’s promised to vote in favor of the plan that was first proposed by Ayala’s predecessor, Melissa Mark-Viverito.

Coming out ahead of Diaz and Torres on the borough-based plan, and where they stood on it, is Assemblyman Michael Blake, another contender for the congressional seat, who came out against the plan last year, well before he announced a run for Congress.

Since at least October, Blake has opposed the plan, arguing it can do irreparable harm to Diego Beekman Houses, an apartment complex a block west from where the city looks to build the detention center, currently the NYPD’s tow pound. Blake ratcheted up his condemnation of the plan by appearing at Community Board 1 during the public review phase in May, engaging with residents ahead of the vote.

The announcement to close Rikers came in 2017 and was hailed by advocates as a means of ending the culture of violence at a facility with little rehabilitative methods. The cost to build the new jails in the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn is $8.7 billion.

Blake finds the site problematic, saying the proposed 26-floor jail is “not the right way to support the Mott Haven community,” believing that the funding should be allocated toward fixing public housing and improving schools. It’s a feeling shared by Serrano, and Diaz Sr.’s son, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., who voted down the proposal during the public review phase early this month. Blake, a proponent of criminal justice reform, has advocated to hold off on building new jails until alternatives to incarceration and better training of correction officers are prioritized.

“In this environment, if you are going to go forward to building a jail, which, for the record, I have always said if you gotta do it correctly it should be behind the [Bronx Family] courthouse as it is in other places, and equally that Staten Island should have a facility as well. If you’re going to move forward then you have to absolutely transform the South Bronx for the better,” said Blake. “There should be no NYCHA development that has any infrastructure issue at all before you build a jail. There should be no schools that are wondering about the needs that they have before you build the jail. There should be no conversation about affordable housing not being implemented until you build a jail.”

With Blake among the contenders vying to be Serrano’s successor, the prospect of advocating for Diego Beekman Houses ahead of his opponents can play well for him, according to political observers. It’s already paid well for Blake. Arline Parks, CEO of Diego Beekman Houses, donated to Blake’s Assembly campaign in January.

“He’s running for Congress and the proposed jail is an issue for the voters he’s looking to woo,” said Michael Benjamin, a former Bronx Assemblyman and New York Post editorial board member who once worked for Serrano. “Mott Haven is heavily Latino and Blake needs to build his name recognition in a race where Latino candidates may split that vote.”

Indeed, Diego Beekman Houses, and the Mott Haven jail site, fall outside of Blake’s district, landing in Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo’s 84th Assembly District, which overlaps with the eastern portion of the 15th Congressional District. Blake has gone beyond his 79th Assembly District to establish deeper ties at the 15th Congressional District, appearing to fit the consensus of a lawmaker in search of a new voting bloc.

“This is absolutely something that’s going to help Blake,” said another entrenched political insider, who asked his name be withheld. “Especially in a big voting bloc like Diego Beekman in the surrounding neighborhood.”

George Artz, a political consultant, said the jail proposal is a secondary issue next to kitchen-table discussions. “[Blake’s] staking out his area in going with an issue that he thinks may be resonant with some of the people in the community,” said Artz. “But people are wondering about the things that really affect them like jobs and housing and education.”

For Blake, his involvement in halting the Rikers Island plan is not meant as a tool to garner votes.

“It’s not about the politics. It’s about the person,” said Blake. “This is about someone who I have had relatives at Rikers. It’s about the humanity of the process, and so it’s not about a vote. And anyone who is saying those kinds of things show that they’re only about a headline rather than a human.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.