June 2, 2009
Governors Island's old jail with Lady Liberty views
A New York Times column today about the up-in-the-air fate of Guantanamo detainees toys with the notion of moving them to Governors Island in the middle of New York Harbor.
 What the story neglects to mention is that the island is already home to a well-used jail: Castle Williams.
Built from 1807 to 1811, no shot was ever fired in anger from the fortification, however it later housed Civil War prisoners who were no doubt angry - as well as sick, due to the unsanitary conditions there.
“It was not a very pretty place,” a National Park Service ranger said during a Governors Island tour on Friday. Thirty to 60 prisoners — only enlisted men were housed in Castle Williams — were kept in each cell, with no sanitation, no running water.
Castle Williams was a military prison up until 1963, just before the U.S. Army left Governors Island. When the Coast Guard moved in, it was used as youth community center and later a landscape shop.
During the NPS tours — which are free on Wednesdays and Thursdays — you can look into one of the cells, but you can’t yet go inside. The recent batch of stimulus funds in the U.S. Economic Recovery Plan includes about $5 million to stabilize the building, Mindi Rambo, an NPS assistant public affairs officer, told NewYorkology.
Eventually the cells will open to the public and exhibits will be placed inside, if all goes as planned. That is, unless the Guantanamo detainees become the inhabitants of the round, red fortification.
More pictures after the jump.
See more pictures and details about the Governors Island tour.
June 2, 2009 11:09 AM in Architecture, Cheap Stuff, Downtown, History, Kids, Sightsology, Tours
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