New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today joined Council Members Letitia James, Bill de Blasio and David Yassky, public interest attorney Randy Mastro and community leaders to applaud a New York State Supreme Court ruling that bars Mayor Bloomberg’s administration from moving forward with expansion plans at the Brooklyn House of Detention.

Supreme Court Judge Sylvia Hinds-Radix’s decision also forces the City to make public relevant documents pertaining to the $440 million plan to double the size of the Brooklyn House of Detention in Downtown Brooklyn, and prohibits the City from moving forward with the architectural contract to design the expansion.

“I fully support the court’s ruling to halt all plans for expansion at the Brooklyn House of Detention and ensure that all legally required environmental and public reviews are conducted before the city tries to proceed with its ill-conceived plan,” Thompson said.

“I am also pleased that the court has required the City to expeditiously disclose pertinent and previously unavailable information regarding this project. By circumventing the public’s input and avoiding necessary review processes, the City had no right to begin moving forward on this costly plan. I am confident that once the court fully reviews this matter and the information that the City is now obliged to disclose it will render a final resolution in our favor.”

A coalition of elected officials, including Thompson, Yassky, James and Senator Eric Adams, and community organizations and concerned taxpayers filed suit against the City in November. Plaintiffs maintained that the City skipped required land use processes to expand the jail in Downtown Brooklyn despite deep concerns about an adverse impact on the City’s beleaguered budget.

Thompson has continuously objected to the jail proposal over the last several years.  In February, due to unexplained ballooning costs, he rejected a contract submitted to his office by the Department of Design and Construction for architectural design services at the facility. The rejection was based on a near 100 percent increase from the original estimate in construction costs for the project and incomplete, and conflicting, documentation.

“A thorough review of this contract has resulted in the discovery of a litany of problems, including extreme miscalculations of cost estimates and missing documentation from the agencies involved,” Thompson said in his rejection letter. “A project of this magnitude must be taken seriously and our findings indicate that the city has lacked due diligence in this submission.”

The facility was closed in 2003 because of a declining prison population, sizable capacity available for prisoners at Rikers Island, and to save money on the costs of running an extra jail. Soon after, however, the Bloomberg administration announced plans to build a towering new structure atop the existing jail, nearly doubling its size and adding 700 new beds. Other plaintiffs in the suit include Atlantic Avenue Betterment Association, Atlantic Avenue LDC, Cobble Hill Association, Boerum Hill Association, Brooklyn Vision and Stop BHOD.

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