Union head slams Blaz Rikers plan

THE HEAD of the correction officers union slammed Mayor de Blasio’s plan to shut down Rikers Island, saying it makes no sense to put jails in city neighborhoods.

“They want you to take your 5-year-old granddaughter and walk by a jail, so you can explain to her what these barbed wires are, and what this place is, and why it is there as she is going across the street to her school,” Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association President Elias Husamudeen said Sunday on the John Catsimatidis AM 970 radio show.

De Blasio released a 10-year plan for shuttering Rikers last week, but did not pick sites for smaller jails to replace it.

He said that was a task for the City Council.

Four members who represent courthouse sites where jails might go have already said they’re open to the idea,however.

Husamudeen insisted it’s safer to keep prisoners locked up at the more remote island location.

The union head also noted that several members of the Lippman Commission, which was convened by City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito to come up with a road map for closing Rikers, were from the real estate industry.

“You kinda get the idea of who might be behind the shutting of Rikers Island,” he said.

De Blasio’s office did not respond to a request for comment.