Fieldwork

Photographs and recordings from July 2026.

In July I spent time in Mott Haven with local decarceral and housing-justice groups, and with people who live and work near the jail site. What I heard is that there is no single position on the jail here: many residents have relatives in policing or corrections, and public-sector jobs are one of the few routes to stability. The concerns raised most often were the safety of the schools near the site, and pollution.

I also approached the jail through what its construction produces: noise, dust, vibration, closed streets. People who did not want to talk about the jail itself would talk about these. The conditions are shared even where opinions on the jail are not. The recordings and photographs below come from that approach.

Recordings

15 July 2026 · An excavator drilling at the Mott Haven jail site, 2:20pm.
15 July 2026 · A construction truck reversing to unload at the warehouse development opposite the jail site, with tools still audible from the jail site behind it.
15 July 2026 · Drilling from the Bruckner Boulevard side of the jail site, intensifying through the recording, with an aircraft passing overhead.
15 July 2026 · Jackhammering at the jail site — the loudest of these recordings.
17 July 2026 · A woman calling to a child running ahead, and music from a truck passing. St Mary’s Park, near East 148th Street at St Ann’s Avenue.
17 July 2026 · A resident at the closed Roberto Clemente Plaza, contrasting the construction of one building with others nearby and describing brick falling from recently built blocks.
Source
The City Reporter
Document
NYPD Shuts Down Bustling South Bronx Plaza
Date
15 July 2025
The City Reporter reported on 15 July 2025 that the NYPD had barricaded Roberto Clemente Plaza, at the Hub, the day before. Deputy Mayor Kaz Daughtry and Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson gave quality-of-life complaints as the reason; the Third Avenue BID described the closure as temporary, to let the City pool its resources.
17 July 2026 · Bachata from a car; people talking on phones and to each other in Spanish and English; ambulance sirens; a 50 Cent track from someone’s phone. East 149th Street.
23 July 2026 · Work at the warehouse site and the jail site overlapping; a door slams; the digging carries on underneath. Concord Avenue, facing the jail construction site.
St. Mary’s Park, south-eastern side · 30 July 2026 · Children playing, and a removals vehicle passing. St Mary’s Park, near Cypress Avenue at St Mary’s Street.
30 July 2026 · A portable fuel truck droning, parked across Concord Avenue and closing it. The excavation phase at 431–441 Concord Avenue.
30 July 2026 · A moment of quiet, then a hydraulic hammer breaking into rock. 431–441 Concord Avenue, the same site later in its construction.