BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Protesters on Wednesday shouted down the city’s plan to replace the Brooklyn Detention Center with a brand new facility as community board 2 was set to vote on expanding the jail. The proposal was narrowly defeated by one vote, which drew applause from the crowd.

"Building a gigantic jail it’s just a commitment to keeping it filled for many many years so I really don’t want to see the city commit billions of dollars to that end," said Kensington resident Gaurav Jeshnani.

"These financial resources could be allocated to ways to actually improve communities actually stop the conditions that lead to a lot of crime," said Sunset Park resident Tres Freeborn.

The Brooklyn Detention Center rises 11 stories on Atlantic Avenue. City plans call for the jail to more than double in height, adding hundreds of more beds here as part of its plan to close down Rikers Island. To build bigger, rezoning needs to be approved and that requires the proposal to go through the public land use review process, starting with the community board.

"I believe that my fellow board members no matter what way they voted in the end we all believe that Rikers  should be shut down," said Community Board member Maisha Morales. 

The jail was built in the 1950’s and can accommodate 815 inmates. The city wants to increase that number to provide more than 1100 beds. Many inmates housed at the Brooklyn jail are awaiting trial. With the goal of closing Rikers by 2026, the city wants to move inmates closer to courthouses and their families by creating a borough based jail system with every borough except Staten Island to build new facilities.

"Not only are we moving to a smaller jail system off of Rikers island but also we’re providing services and programming that we know we’re actually be better for the culture of the facilities as well," said Deputy Director Dana Kaplan with the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice.

The city also says it’s being responsive to community concerns and has already reduced the scale of Brooklyn’s planned jail.

Next the proposal goes to the borough president’s office for review where a public hearing and a vote will be scheduled.