…for a floating prison in the Hudson.

This proposal would fits into the historical footprint that is New York. The first prison built by New York right after the American Revolution was Newgate – a waterfront fortress off right off Christopher Street when Greenwich Village was barely a village. Before that time they would cruelly execute and maim criminals at the notorious Bridewell prison, located downtown on New York City’s Commons near today’s City Hall. But now with the revolution everyone was enlighten and there is a strong desire to reform these poor souls. Send them “up river” to a healthier, airier, greener environment. They would still be locked up and pay for their crimes but with hopes of the rehabilitation. In the early 19th century the city grew by leaps and bounds- commerce, finance, industry, population, crime. — Newgate became another hellhole. And in 1828 they moved its prisoner – further “up the river” to a new prison in Sing Sing. This “out of sight – out of mind ” trend has only perpetuated where today in the 21st century, freedom-loving America has 2.3 million incarcerated, becoming the world’s highest per capita prison population, nearly 700 per 100,000. Let’s put a prison back in sight. We are a privileged people here, we don’t need to house anybody in this prison. It just needs to be an easily funded. A conceptual art piece if you will, where there is time to reflect on how we ourselves are captives of capital and culture.