There’s a Floating Jail Barge in NYC off the Bronx

Untapped New York, February 26, 2018: There’s a Floating Jail Barge in NYC off the Bronx

“Little known even to New Yorkers, a floating prison barge sits off the shore of Hunts Point in the Bronx. In the late 1980s, New York City jails and prisons were filling past capacity and there was nowhere on land to expand. The solution devised by Mayor Edward Koch’s administration was to create jail barges, the first of which arrived in 1988. The Bibby Resolution and the Bibby Venture were formerly British troop carriers repurposed as jails. Those two ships were sold in 1994, when the 47,326 ton Vernon C. Bain Center arrived in the East River to replace them.

“Built in New Orleans in 1992, ‘The Boat’ is now stationed near Hunts Point in The Bronx just one mile west of the SUNY Maritime College. At the time, the $161 million construction budget — $35 million more than was originally planned — made the Bain prison barge the most expensive jail ever. Coast Guard regulations mandate that a minimum of three maritime crew members, a mate, an oiler, and an engineer, be on board at all times adding an additional cost of about $650,000 a year.”

Additional reading:

The New York Times, September 22, 2021: 12th Death in Custody This Year Signals Growing Crisis in N.Y.C. Jails. The man who died was being held at the Vernon C. Bain Center, a floating jail barge docked just north of Rikers Island.

6sqft, October 10, 2019: The East River prison barge, intended to be temporary, draws ire amid plans to close Rikers

gCaptain, July 31, 2012: NYC’s Prison Barge – The Most Depressing Barge in the World?