Former NY Correctional Facility to House New Immigrants Seeking Asylum

Benjamín Almonte is one of several workers in charge of the maintenance and transformation of a building that was formerly the Lincoln Correctional Facility in the state of NY, where prisoners who were about to complete their sentence in state prisons were transferred before being released.

Now it will be the temporary home for newly arrived immigrants seeking asylum in NY.

“They have good bathrooms, we are maintaining them. It looks good, practically for a few days, I am not going to tell you forever because it is not suitable to live a lifetime, but for one to sleep in a park, or directly on the streets, it is not I find it so bad,” Almonte explained.

The correctional facility was closed in 2019 due to state budget cuts. Governor Hochul, however, planned to convert the building located across from Central Park on 110th Street into affordable housing.

Due to the growing number of immigrants arriving in the city – more than 70,000 so far – the authorities have been forced to convert hotels and schools into shelters, at an approximate cost of 380 dollars a day per person.

“I think what the city does is a good thing, I think the community will grow with the newcomers, since they are escaping from hard situations in their countries, why not give them a hand?” said Garrett Simons, a resident of Harlem.

Several immigrant rights organizations have spoken out against housing newly arrived immigrants in a former prison.

“They come to New York thinking that they will be welcomed and received with love, empathy, care and dignity, but they will be placed in a place with a dark past, which will traumatize them,” said activist Power Malu.

And while the exact date that this former prison will receive its first wave of adult immigrants is not yet clear, off camera several Hispanic social workers told us they are ready to help them adjust to the place.