Policy
Where does each borough-based jail project stand?
Every jail is behind schedule and over budget, but there is some progress.
Construction continues at the site of the Brooklyn borough jail in May 2025. Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images
During his 2025 campaign, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that “Rikers Island is a stain on the history of this city.” He said he would do everything in his power to meet the deadline to close the facility and replace it with four smaller jails in every borough except Staten Island. Stanley Richards, Mamdani’s commissioner of the Department of Correction, has also championed borough-based jails. “Their locations bring people closer to their courts, families, and communities, strengthening fairness and connection throughout the process,” he said.
But the plan to replace Rikers Island with borough-based jails is over budget and overdue, with the city nowhere near closing the island by the August 2027 deadline. The total projected cost of the new facilities is $13.7 billion, according to City Hall, a 57% increase from the initial estimated cost of $8.7 billion.
Even with all construction contracts now registered and demolition projects complete at each site, the timeline gap is glaring. The Brooklyn jail is set for completion in 2029, but Manhattan’s Chinatown project is expected to finish the latest, five years past the deadline. Not to mention the population problem. The four-jail solution is designed to house 4,160 people, or 1,040 in each. The current average population of Rikers is about 6,700.
Progress is slow, but construction is underway for each of the new jails. Here’s where each project stands.
BROOKLYN
Location: 275 Atlantic Ave. in Boerum Hill, the site of the former Brooklyn Detention Complex
Construction status: The structural steel, the building’s framework, will be completed in April, according to the city.
Estimated completion date: 2029, the first of all the jails
Size: 1 million square feet
Projected cost: $3 billion
What’s the deal? Construction of the jail, which will connect to the adjacent Brooklyn Criminal Court via a tunnel, is underway. It’s currently at least 12 stories high, with three more floors to go, and takes up an entire block. The project is expected to be finished years before the other borough-based jails, and the contract was awarded to construction firm Tutor Perini. Like at the other sites, jail cells will be prefabricated, or fully constructed off-site and transported to the facility for installation.
QUEENS
Location: 126-02 82nd Ave. in Kew Gardens, the site of the Queens Detention Center
Construction status: City Hall expects early utility work to start this summer. The contract for the facility was awarded to Leon D. DeMatteis Construction Corp.
Estimated completion date: 2031
Size: 1.1 million square feet
Projected cost: $4 billion
What’s the deal? The jail is still in the design development phase, with the design-build team having submitted 65% of its required documents in December. Those are now under review by the city. It’s the only borough-based jail that will include space for women and gender-expansive individuals – 450 total beds – and will include medical facilities for pregnant women and mothers, as well as a nursery. Because of this additional required space, the Queens facility is the most expensive of the four jails.
BRONX
Location: 745 E. 141st St. in Mott Haven, the former site of Lincoln Hospital and an NYPD tow pound
Construction status: Excavation to create the facility’s foundations started before the end of 2025.
Estimated completion date: 2031
Size: 1 million square feet
Projected cost: $3 billion
What’s the deal? The fourth and final community design workshop for the jail happened this month, allowing the Bronx community to see how their opinions have shaped the project’s architecture. It’s the only one of the four jails to not have an adjacent courthouse, and all incarcerated people will instead be driven to court. The contract for both this and the Queens jail were awarded in May 2024.
MANHATTAN
Location: 124-125 White St. in Chinatown, the site of the former Manhattan Detention Complex, better known as The Tombs
Construction status: Demolition of the existing complex was finished in summer 2024. Early groundwork, like evaluating soil composition and setting up utility lines, has started.
Estimated completion date: 2032, latest of all the jails
Size: 1 million square feet
Projected cost: $3.8 billion
What’s the deal? Chinatown residents have been told construction will begin “soon,” and City Hall says excavation will begin in the spring. The “jailscraper” is expected to be the tallest in the world at around 300 feet. Contractor Tutor Perini has said it will work 100-hour weeks, 6 a.m. to midnight on weekdays and 10 hours on Saturdays, to finish by the estimated completion date of 2032.