NYC Is Finally Moving Its Notorious Floating Dungeon

The City is finally moving the towering 800-bed former floating jail that for three decades has hovered just off the Bronx neighborhood of Hunts Point, 18 months after the last detainee left the barge for good. But the future of the 625-foot long barge is still uncertain, with the New York City Economic Development Corporation saying few ideas are off the table when it comes to its long-term future. The EDC confirmed, however, that it will not be turned back into a jail.

On Monday morning, Mayor Eric Adams held a rain-soaked press conference in front of the barge, officially known as the Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center, to announce that it will be permanently removed from that location. He was joined by Department of Correction Commissioner Lynelle Maginley-Liddie; Bronx Councilmember Rafael Salamanca, who represents Hunts Point; and NYCEDC head Andrew Kimball, who said the barge will be moved to make room for a new Hunts Point Marine Terminal that will connect the area to ports up and down the East Coast. 

"The [barge] and all the destruction that came with it will be removed, and we will give renewed energy and light to this community," Adams said, adding that the barge was a "blight" on the Bronx.