Qns. pols push lockup site to replace Rikers

ELEVEN QUEENS City Council members are backing a site for a new borough jail as the city moves to close Rikers Island.

The pols wrote to Mayor de Blasio urging him to use the now-shuttered Queens Detention Complex, in Kew Gardens behind the borough’s courthouse, to house detainees from Queens as part of the Rikers shutdown.

“It is centrally located in a civic center, it is connected to the courts, and with the proper capital investment, it can be functional for this use,” the group wrote.

The group includes Criminal Justice Committee Chairwoman Elizabeth Crowley and Karen Koslowitz, whose district includes the mothballed detention complex.

After years of pressure, de Blasio embraced the move to close Rikers, where violence has surged for years. But his 10-year shutdown plan identifies no places for new jails.

A de Blasio rep did not respond to a request for comment on the Queens Council members’ letter.

The Queens Detention Complex shut down 15 years ago after decades of housing prisoners.