Needed: crooks

摘要

A thin strip of granite facing is being wrapped around the first floor of the bleak 800-cell Brooklyn House of Detention, a visible sign that a $45m renovation is creeping forward. The question is whether anyone can be found to go into it. The jail, built in 1957 near the old Brooklyn courthouses in the stark "brutalist" style popular among architects but not people, served as an early example of inept urban renewal. A neighbourhood that included a church, small houses and businesses had been damaged by subway construction; it was replaced by a concrete jail surrounded by forlorn concrete lots. Economic renewal, such as it was, came from the conversion of several shops into places for bail bondsmen to ply their trade. Attempts to modernise the prison began a decade ago. Revised building codes prompted slow renovations and then modest improvements, such as a new waiting room for prisoners' families. There is even some effort to spruce up the awful look of the place. All that is missing from this display case of correctional excellence is a few criminals to put in it.