Spring Cleaning at the Brooklyn House of Detention

Workers are sprucing up the Brooklyn Detention Complex (the old Brooklyn House of Detention) on Atlantic Avenue at Smith Street in preparation for its reopening. A uniformed officer told McBrooklyn that the city hopes to swing open the jail's gates by summer. "But they've said that before," he added.

Naturally, many of the jail's high-striving neighbors (this does not include bail bondsmen) are not happy with its reopening.

The House of D was closed in 2003, because, with room for only 749 inmates, all in 5-by-8-foot individual cells, it was deemed inefficient, according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. The city’s Department of Correction intends -- in the long run -- to double the capacity of the jail, and add street-level retail.

Brooklyn's irrepressible BP Marty Markowitz suggests a unique tenant: a boutique hotel.

Meet the jail's neighbors here.

Photo by MK Metz