The Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center, a five-story floating jail approximately two football fields in length, docked in the East River off of the South Bronx, has closed their facilities this week after over 30 years of housing prisoners. The correctional center was opened in 1992 with the sole purpose of temporarily aiding the overpopulation Rikers Island was experiencing. Before closing its doors last week, Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center was the last prison ship housing and holding prisoners in the U.S. 

The closing of the jail comes as a result of a broader plan by New York City to end its correctional facilities and instead replace them with smaller jails. The 500 prisoners currently incarcerated on the ship have been transferred to Rikers Island, although Rikers Island is eventually set to close too. 

The closing of Vernon C. Bain Correctional comes not only from the City’s plan to close their correctional facilities but also years of backlash and criticism from NYC residents. There was an incident which occurred last September where an inmate, Gregory Acevedo, leaped off of the very top of the ship plunging to his death. Inmate Stephen Khadu also died in 2022 due to insufficient treatment to medical issues while on board. He had been exposed to and contracted a highly treatable form of meningitis while incarcerated there, causing NYC residents to scrutinize and question the facility’s ability to care for its prisoners. 

NYC residents weren’t the only people criticizing Vernon C. Bain Correctional Center as numerous inmates previously held there highlighted the inhumane conditions and treatment within the prison. Kenneth Williams, an inmate who was transferred to Vernon C. Bain Correctional in 2018, noted that upon arriving he was met with an overwhelming smell of mold, a rocking ship and beds merely separated by a couple of inches. Williams explained that during the summer, the ship became unbearable due to the heat and would leak in the winter. 

Prior to his death, Stephen Khadu had relayed the traumatic conditions within the facility to his family. Khadu had explained that during the summer, the ship was sweltering due to the heat, noting the mold that adorned the ship, sharing that the containers he used to store food were being chewed through by rats. Khadu’s death was found to have been caused by lymphocytic meningitis, which is an airborne disease contracted by rodents. Khadu’s mother, Lezandre Khadu, wholeheartedly believes that her son’s death was as a result of the ship’s “disgusting conditions.”