Its plan to erect a string of detention centers on Staten Island and the other boroughs had been scrapped in a concession to community feelings. Instead, construction was underway on another 800-bed facility on Rikers Island, the city's giant correctional complex on the East River. Almost 400 prisoners were housed on the Bibby Venture, a barge docked in Manhattan down-river from Rikers. But this was merely a band-aid and, before long, the barge also would be sunk by citizens' safety concerns. Local opposition is only one of the problems in siting a correctional facility in a major metropolitan area.
Suitable acreage is hard to flnd, and real estate and construction costs are high.
For years, the state had been building prisons in northern New York. The smooth and incident-free operation of new facilities in Ogdensburg and elsewhere had satisfactorily answered residents' questions about safety. The city approached the state in 1987. At the time, DOCS was at-ready looking at properties in Jefferson County near Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence Seaway. An agreement was reached providing that the Department would build two prisons.