But the beep’s free lunch is over – the D.O.C. has announced that the arrangement, under which the D.O.C. paid the prisoners 35 to 40 cents an hour, would no longer be in place next season.
For at least the past nine summers, the jump-suited prisoners – two busloads of them – have been setting up and taking down the 2,000 chairs for attendees who pay $5 for the seats at the Thursday night summer concerts at Asser Levy (the concerts are free if you sit on the grass or bring your own chair).
Previously, Markowitz had used “chain gangs” – they’re not actually in chains – from the state prison system, but the state stopped the program after about 15 years, citing budget problems.
Undeterred, Markowitz turned to Rikers Island. But now the city, citing similar money woes, also pulled the plug – shortly after the program became widely known this season.
"We save a lot of money this way,” Debra Garcia, Markowitz’ executive director and producer of the concert series at Asser Levy as well as at the Martin Luther King concert series at Wingate Field in Crown Heights, where Rikers prisoners also are used, said earlier, before the city’s announcement.
“We’ve been doing this every summer for at least as long as the nine years I’ve been here,” she said, adding that “no one is forced to do it.”
However, D.O.C. spokesman Stephen Morello said the prisoners in fact were mandated to do the work. Unless there’s a physical reason not to, “all sentenced inmates in city jails are required to have a work assignment.” He added that the concert detail “is a useful way for those in custody to spend their time in jail, and also make a contribution to the community.”
The arrangement at the two concert sites was the only such work group in the city other than two work details near Rikers itself.
Many residents, already angered by Markowitz’ plans for the massive amphitheater, don’t like the presence of scores of prisoners in their neighborhood. Morello said the prisoners were “not deemed to be a security risk,” and that they were “closely monitored” by D.O.C. guards.
Rikers Island houses some 14,000 inmates awaiting trial, serving sentences of less than a year, or awaiting transfer to state prison for longer sentences.
Many residents resented that Markowitz was using cheap prison labor when so many people in the area are out of work and could use the jobs, even for a few hours a week. In fact, the city’s Department of Youth and Community Development, a program set up by the Bloomberg administration, coordinates such jobs for city teens who sorely need the money. Garcia had said that if she were to hire locals, “then I’d have to pay people. You have to understand – this is a non-profit [operation]. We have to pay the going rates for the big-name entertainers we get, and we offer the concerts for free.
"I have to cut costs wherever I can.”
