New York City Floating Jail Closes After Three Decades

The Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center, a five-story jail barge that stretches the length of two football fields, is finally closing down after three decades, Jake Offenhartz reports for the Chicago Tribune. The ship, the last of its kind, will be fully vacated by the end of this week, officials said, as part of a broader plan to replace the city’s long-troubled correctional system with a network of smaller jails. The roughly 500 people incarcerated on the ship will be transferred to Rikers Island in the meantime. The jail has had multiple failures in recent years, with one man jumping from the top of the ship to his death last year and another died after contracting a form of treatable meningitis while in custody the year before. A spokesperson for the Department of Correction declined to say what the city plans to do with the boat going forward. It will remain, for now, within the custody of the Department of Correction.