Maybe they can call themselves the Rikers Jailbirds and warm up audiences with a spirited rendition of “Working on the Chain Gang.”
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz is using free labor for his summer concert series in Coney Island and East Flatbush — busloads of inmates in red-and-white-striped jumpsuits paying their debt to society by setting up and breaking down 2,000 chairs for the overflow audiences.
For years. convicts have quietly been working at the concerts — held in Asser Levy Park and Wingate Field.
The practice suddenly became controversial after it was adopted as an issue by Brighton Beach residents who have been fighting a planned new $64 million amphitheater fearing it will attract big, noisy crowds.
“There is a whole lot more scrutiny now because of the amphitheater opposition,” Brighton Beach activist Ida Sanoff said yesterday.
“People didn’t realize what was going on before. Perhaps it’s because they used to use state prisoners, and now they just started using city inmates with colorful uniforms,” she said.
She also said that Markowitz would have better served the community by offering the summer work to teens.
City officials said the free labor isn’t a safety risk — and point out it saves the nonprofit organization running the free shows for Markowitz thousands of dollars per event.
Markowitz’s office referred questions to Debra Garcia, who organizes the series.
“I’m shocked people are making a big deal out of it now after all these years,” Garcia said.
All sentenced inmates in the city system have work assignments, though most jobs are within the jails, a Department of Correction spokesman said yesterday.
“The work assignment is a useful way for those in custody to spend their time in jail, and also make a contribution to the community,” said spokesman Stephen Morello.
“The inmates on the [concert series] assignment are low-security-risk inmates carefully selected for the assignment and carefully monitored while on assignment.”
The guys from Rikers are getting a pretty cool deal.
Other assignments outside of jails include maintenance work on Hart Island, the site of the city’s Potters Field, and in parts of Queens near the Rikers bridge, Morello said.
But they don’t come with the opportunity to listen to some pretty good music.
The concert series have featured major acts over the years, including Frankie Valli, Toni Braxton and the Beach Boys.
The B-52s and Go-Gos singer Belinda Carlisle are slated to play at Asser Levy Park on Thursday.
Reggaeton star Sean Paul will appear Aug 23 at Wingate’s Martin Luther King Jr. series.
The Brighton Beach concerts are in their 32nd season; the East Flatbush concerts have been taking place for 28 years.
Markowitz’s concerts have long been a point of contention among its Brighton Beach neighbors, who complain that loud shows at Asser Levy Park drown out services across the street at Sea Breeze Jewish Center and Temple Beth Abraham.
Additional reporting by Emily Ngo